AUb   i*  1955 

Logical  sy^ 


BS 

2635 

.K46 

1920 

Kennedy, 

Harry  Angus 

Al 

exand 

er , 

1866- 

The 

theo 

logy 

of  the 

Epis 

tl 

es 

THE    THEOLOGY    OF 
THE    EPISTLES 


BY 

H.  A.  A.  KENNEDY,  D.D.,  D.Sc. 

PROFESSOR    OF    KEW   TESTAMENT    EXEGESIS    AND   THEOLOGY 
NEW   COLLEGE,    EDINBURGH 


NEW  YORK 
CHARLES   SCRIBNER'S   SONS 

1920 


All  rights  mrrvrd 


IN 

AFFECTIONATE  REMEMBRANCE 

OF 

DR.  JAMES  DENNEY 


PBEFACE 

This  volume  scarcely  requires  a  preface,  as  the  method 
which  has  been  followed  in  discussing  the  subject  is  fully 
described  in  the  Introduction.  One  matter  alone  calls  for 
remark.  I  have  deliberately  refrained  from  dealing  with 
the  thought  of  the  Johannine  Epistles,  because  that  could 
not  be  adequately  treated  apart  from  the  Fourth  Gospel. 
All  students  of  theology  are  aware  that  any  such  discussion 
must  extend  far  beyond  the  limits  of  a  handbook  like  the 
present. 

I  have  tried  to  limit  the  references  to  literature.  But 
I  trust  I  have  not  missed  any  contribution  of  first-class 
importance. 

It  is  once  more  a  pleasure  to  acknowledge  the  large 
debt  I  owe  to  my  friend  and  colleague,  Professor  H.  R. 
Mackintosh,  D.D.,  D.Phil.,  who,  besides  helping  me  to 
correct  the  proofs,  has,  by  his  fine  sensitiveness  of  ear 
and  mind,  enabled  me  to  improve  both  the  thought  and 
its  expression. 

H.  A.  A.  KENNEDY. 

New  College, 
Edinburgh,  May  24,  1919. 


CONTENTS 


INTRODUCTION 


Method  . 

Scope    . 

St.  Paul's  Letters 
Catholic  Epistles 
Scheme  of  Treatmen' 
L  St.  Paul 
U2.  Post-Pauline  Christianity 


page 
1 
2 
4 
5 

6 
9 


PART  I 

Paulinism 

CHAPTER  I 


St.  Paul's  Environment 
Judaism    . 
Hellenism 


13 


CHAPTER  II 


St. 

Paul's   Experience    under    the    Religion    of    the 
Law  : — 

Presuppositions  ...... 

28 

Sense  of  Failure 

29 

Power  of  Sin  in  the  Flesh    . 

33 

Human  Nature  . 

35 

Origin  of  Sin     .... 

39 

Significance  of  the  Law 

41 

His  Relation  to  the  Nazarenes 

47 

THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES 


CHAPTER  III 

St.  Paul's  Conversion  : — 

Revelation  of  Jesus  as  Risen 

Call  to  Service 

His  Election 

Bearing  of  Vocation  on  Theology 


PAO> 

50 
56 
60 
62 


CHAPTER  IV 

Normative   Influence   of   St.    Paul's   Conversion   on 
his  Religious  Thought  : — 
Jesus  the  Conqueror  of  Death 
Significance  of  the  Cross 
The  Messiah  (Son  of  God) 
The  Lord 
The  Spirit 
Thb  New  Attitude  to  God 


68 
72 
75 
82 
86 
91 


CHAPTER  V 

St.  Paul  and  the  Christian  Tradition 
The  Historical  Jesus  . 
Eschatological  Conceptions    . 
The  Era  of  the  Spirit 
The  Death  of  Christ  .  . 


97 
10b 
111 
114 


CHAPTER  VI 

The  Fundamental  Positions  of  Paulintfm  :— 
In  Christ 

The  Crucified  Redeemer         . 
The  New  Relation  to  God 
The  Activities  of  the  Christian 
The  Body  and  Members  of  Christ 
The  Cosmic  Relations  of  Christ 


119 
125 
133 
]  12 

147 
152 


COXTEXTS 


PART  II 


Phases  of  Early  Christian  Thought  in  the  Main 
Independent  of  Paulinism 


CHAPTER  I 

PAGE 

The  First  Epistle  of  Peter: — 

The  Situation    .            .            .            .            .  ,161 

Practical  Character  of  the  Theology        .  .      165 
Affinities  with  St.  Paul        ....      166 

Atmosphere  of  Common  Church-Consciousness  .       170 
Conceptions  Characteristic  of  the  Epistle  : — 

1.  Old  Testament  Prophecy.            .            .  .174 

2.  The  Death  of  Christ        .            .            .  .176 

3.  The  Descent  to  Hades     .            .            .  .179 


CHAPTER  II 

The  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews. 

A.  Prolegomena  : — 

Special  Character  of  the  Epistle        ,  ,      182 

Perils  of  the  Community  .  .  .      185 

Relation  of  Author  to  Paulinism         .  .      187 

Relation  to  Alexandrian  Judaism        .  .      190 

JB.  Fundamental  Conceptions  of  the  Epistle  : — 
The  New  Covenant  : — 

1.  The  New  Covenant  and  the  Old        .  .       195 

2.  Superiority  of  Christ,  the  Mediator  of  the 

New  Covenant     ....       202 
Consummation  of  the  New  Covenant: — 

1.  Christ's  Priesthood  a  Link  between  Temporal 

and  Eternal  Worlds  .  .  .215 

2.  Faith,  the  Attitude  of  Members  of  the  New 

Covenant.  ....      218 


xu 


THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES 


PART  III 

The  Theology  of  the  Developing  Church 

Shaping  Forces 

Moralistic  Tendency  in  Religion 

Thinning  of  Redemptive  Ideas 

Prominence  of  the  Church-Consciousne 

Conception  of  God   . 

Law  of  Liberty 

Eschatological  Outlook 

Influence  of  Heretical  Movements 

Hellenistic  Colouring 


Bibliography. 
Index    . 


PAGE 

222 
225 
228 
234 
238 
241 
244 
248 
252 

256 
259 


M.    or   (M.)  denotes  Professor  Moffatt's  Translation  of  the  New 
Testament. 


THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES 

INTRODUCTION 

(a)  Method 

There  can  be  little  question  that  the  ideal  method  of 
reaching  the  significance  of  the  Theology  of  the  Epistles 
is  to  deal  with  it  as  an  integral  section  of  the  history  of 
early  Christianity.  The  fundamental  matter  in  that 
history  is  the  religion  of  the  first  disciples  of  Jesus,  and  of 
those  who  were  won  for  His  allegiance  by  their  missionary 
labours.  The  vital  thought  of  the  Epistles  is  the  pre- 
cipitate of  the  religious  faith  inspired  by  Jesus,  and 
deriving  its  support  from  Him.  But  the  task  of  relating 
this  thought  to  the  complex  play  of  events  and  influences 
which  gave  it  shape  in  the  apostolic  age  is  one  of  extra- 
ordinary difficulty.  The  data  at  our  disposal  are  meagre. 
Most  of  them  are  supplied  by  the  Epistles  themselves. 
The  brief  outline  of  history  in  Acts  supplements  them  here 
and  there,  but  its  view  of  the  circumstances  often  creates 
new  problems.  A  connected  survey  of  the  apostolic  age 
is  impossible  of  achievement.  We  have  only  to  compare 
Paul's  passing  references  in  Gal.  i.  to  the  events  which 
followed  his  conversion,  with  the  vague  account  of  the 
situation  given  in  Acts  ix.,  to  realise  the  many  gaps  which 
confront  our  investigation.  Delicate  questions  such  as 
the  precise  relation  of  Jewish -Christian  thought  in  the 
Diaspora  to  that  of  Palestine  and  the  mother  Church,  and 
the  influence  of  each  of  these  factors  on  Paul's  early 
Christian  career,  elude  our  instruments  of  investigation. 

A 


2  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES 

Nor  can  we  with  any  certainty  determine  the  various  forms 
assumed  by  Christianity  on  heathen  soil.1 

Further,  for  a  complete  estimate  of  primitive  Christian 
thought,  it  would  be  necessary  to  trace  the  affinities  which 
it  presents  with  those  faiths  from  which  it  gained  the 
majority  of  its  adherents,  notably  Judaism  and  Hellenism, 
as  well  as  the  syncretistic  influences  which  surrounded  it 
in  an  age  when  the  civilised  peoples  of  the  Roman  Empire 
were  rapidly  becoming  unified.  Here,  it  may  be  admitted, 
the  materials  for  arriving  at  a  judgment  are  accumulating 
in  bewildering  variety.  Hasty  conclusions  are  attractive, 
and  usually  erroneous.  In  no  field  of  inquiry  is  it  more 
needful  to  resist  large  generalisations,  until  the  evidence 
has  been  adequately  sifted,  and  its  bearings  carefully 
weighed. 

(b)  Scope 

A  final  problem  is  concerned  with  the  scope  of  the 
investigation.  In  the  opening  centuries  of  our  era,  the 
Church  was  led  to  construct  a  Canon  or  authoritative 
selection  of  sacred  writings.  Certain  documents  received 
universal  recognition  within  the  Christian  community  at 
a  very  early  date.  But  as  late  as  the  beginning  of  the  third 
century  several  of  the  Catholic  Epistles,  e.g.,  were  regarded 
with  hesitation,  if  not  rejected,  by  some  sections  of  the 
Christian  Church.2  On  the  other  hand,  in  the  same  period, 
the  writings  of  the  so-called  Apostolic  Fathers  were 
occasionally  cited  as  Scripture.  Thus  Irenaeus  assigns 
Scriptural  authority  to  a  quotation  from  the  '  Shepherd  '  of 
Hermas,  which  he  groups  with  passages  from  Genesis, 
Matthew,  and  Ephesians.  The  facts  remind  us  that  the 
boundary  between  '  canonical '  and  secondary  Christian 
writings  was  still  fluctuating.  But  this  condition  of  things 
is  reflected  in  the  contents  as  well  as  the  history  of  various 
documents.  It  is  practically  impossible  to  draw  a  sharp 
distinction  between  the  apostolic  and  the  sub-apostolic 
age.     Hence,  such  writings  as  1  Clement  and  the  Epistles  of 

1  See  Wrede,  Aufgabe  u.  Methode,  p.  69. 
'  E.g.  the  Syrian  Church. 


INTRODUCTION  3 

Ignatius  have,  in  many  respects,  as  good  a  claim  to  a  place 
in  the  history  of  early  Christian  religion  as,  say,  2  Peter 
and  Jude.  And  recent  writers  on  New  Testament  Theology 
have  extended  their  survey  to  the  sub -apostolic  period. 

Apart,  however,  from  the  inherent  difficulty  of  approxi- 
mating to  the  ideal  treatment  of  our  subject  which  has  been 
sketched  above,  the  limits  prescribed  for  a  handbook  like 
the  present  make  it  impossible  to  attempt  a  systematic 
association  of  the  religious  thought  of  the  Epistles  with 
the  history  of  the  Christian  Church  out  of  which  it  has 
arisen.  To  essay  the  task  would  mean  the  covering  of  a 
bare  skeleton  of  facts  with  a  thin  tissue  of  ideas.  Our 
aim  is  wholly  different.  Our  starting-point  is  the  clear 
recognition  that  the  Theology  of  the  Epistles  is  not  an 
exercise  in  system -building,  but  the  transcript  of  a  living 
Christian  experience.  If  we  make  the  experience  the 
regulative  factor  in  the  interpretation  of  the  thought, 
we  shall  to  that  extent  guard  against  the  danger  of  placing 
the  ideas  in  a  false  proportion.  We  shall  be  able  to  dis- 
tinguish those  that  are  normative  from  those  which 
emerge  incidentally  in  a  given  situation.  Ultimately,  the 
interpretation  of  the  ideas  will  prove  the  surest  clue  to  the 
essential  history  of  early  Christian  faith.  For  they  will 
themselves,  in  large  measure,  supply  their  own  context. 
The  inner  processes  of  thought  and  feeling  will  give  life  to 
the  meagre  historical  outline  which  we  are  able  provision- 
ally to  reconstruct  from  our  various  sources.  In  any  case, 
we  shall  be  compelled  at  every  step  to  fill  in  as  much  of  the 
background  as  is  needful  to  explain  the  origin  and  character 
of  those  phases  of  Christian  experience  which  the  writers 
of  the  Epistles  set  in  the  forefront.  Thus  we  shall  at 
least  avoid  dealing  with  the  material  for  our  study  as  a 
hortus  siccus,  in  which  lifeless  specimens  are  arranged  in 
artificial  order.  There  is,  no  doubt,  a  place  for  the  history 
of  New  Testament  conceptions  in  the  various  stages  of  their 
development.  But  that  must  be  supplementary  to  New 
Testament  Theology  in  the  strict  sense,  and  not  its  main 
content. 


4  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES 

(c)  PauVs  '  Letters  ' 

The  formulation  of  Christian  thought  in  the  Epistles 
must  be  estimated  in  the  light  of  the  nature  and  genesis  of 
the  documents  in  which  it  is  embodied.  Much  recent  dis- 
cussion has  turned  on  the  distinction  between  the  Epistle 
and  the  Letter.1  And  for  our  inquiry  there  is  point  in 
recognising  that  the  Epistle  constitutes  a  definite  type  of 
literature,  intended  for  publication,  while  the  Letter  is  a 
private  interchange  of  thoughts  and  sentiments,  the  ex- 
pression of  a  well-marked  mood.  Obviously  the  writings 
of  St.  Paul — even  so  elaborate  a  production  as  the  Epistle 
to  the  Romans — must  be  classified  as  genuine  Letters. 
Yet  their  unliterary  character  must  not  be  exaggerated.2 
The  truth  is  that  Paul  cannot  be  placed  under  any  of  the 
ordinary  categories.  '  This  style  of  letter,'  says  one  of  the 
most  eminent  living  authorities  on  Greek  Literature,  '  is 
Paul,  nobody  but  Paul.  It  is  not  a  private  letter  and  yet 
not  literature,  something  between  which  cannot  be 
imitated.'  3  And  he  declares  that  Paul's  uniquely  in- 
dividual Greek,  depending  on  no  school  or  model,  but 
welling  up  from  a  heart  full  of  joyous  vitality,  makes 
him  '  a  classic  of  Hellenism.'  That  is  justly  said.  These 
documents  contain  an  animated  monologue  abounding  in 
personal  feeling,  reflecting  the  subtlest  shades  of  the 
speaker's  mood.  Yet  it  is  not  ordinary  conversation.  For 
the  apostolic  note  is  there,  a  tone  of  authority  not  anxiously 
claimed,  but  assumed  as  by  the  ambassador  of  Christ. 
So  we  reach  a  criterion  for  estimating  Paul's  conceptions. 
He  addresses  himself  in  his  Letters  to  certain  definite 
situations,  and  these  determine  the  emphasis  laid  on 
particular  ideas.  But  he  never  hesitates  to  apply  eternal 
principles  to  the  passing  circumstances  of  his  correspondents, 
and  he  arrives  at  his  principles  not  by  reference  to  any 
external  authority,  but  as  he  has  discovered  their  operation 

1  See  especially  Deissmann,  Bibelstudien,  pp.  189-252. 

*  As  by  Deissmann,  e.g.  Licht  vnm  Osten,  p.  167  f. 

•  Von  Wilamowitz-Moellendorff,  Die  griechieche  Literatur  d.  Altertum* 
(in  Die  Kultur  d.  Gegenwart5),  p.  '2?,2 


INTRODUCTION  5 

in  his  own  experience,  an  operation  of  the  very  life  and 
energy  of  God  Himself.  Hence  we  have  to  keep  in  view, 
on  the  one  hand,  the  artless  and  occasional  character  of 
Paul's  Letters,  and,  on  the  other,  their  claim,  born  of  a 
personal  assurance  of  contact  with  the  Divine,  to  be  the 
medium  of  a  Gospel,  a  redeeming  message,  which  has 
a  right  to  challenge  attention  and  obedience.  If  we 
give  each  of  these  aspects  its  due  place,  we  shall  be  able 
to  avoid  two  easy  misconceptions  :  we  shall  not  demand 
a  rigid  logic  in  the  apostie's  pastoral  counsels  and 
instruction,  nor  painfully  labour  to  harmonise  apparent 
inconsistencies  in  order  to  reach  completely  rounded 
ideas  ;  and  we  shall  remember  that  he  does  not  write  as 
a  contributor  to  the  sum  of  human  knowledge,  even  the 
knowledge  of  God,  but  as  a  man  redeemed  by  Christ, 
who  is  convinced  that  he  holds  the  Divine  secret  of 
peace  of  conscience  and  life  eternal  for  all  the  burdened 
children  of  men. 

(d)  Catholic  '  Epistles  ' 

The  Catholic  Epistles  x  reveal  numerous  affinities  with 
those  of  Paul.  Their  authors  share  with  him  the  stock  of 
ideas  which  are  the  common  property  of  the  Church. 
Hence,  in  attempting  to  interpret  their  thought,  we  must 
guard  against  hasty  conclusions  as  to  their  dependence 
upon  Paulinism,  although  that,  of  course,  is  an  element 
which  has  to  be  reckoned  with.  A  notable  characteristic 
of  these  Epistles  is  their  impersonality.  The  reader  of 
James  or  Jude,  or  even  of  1  Peter,  receives  no  clear-cut 
impression  of  their  authors.  '  It  is  not  so  much  an  im- 
portant man  who  speaks,  as  an  important  subject.' 2 
They  might  therefore  be  properly  classified  as  '  Epistles ' 
in  the  strict  sense.  And  yet  a  point  must  be  stretched  if 
we  are  to  regard  them  as  primarily  literary  compositions. 
They    are    certainly    intended    to    reach    a    widespread 

1  The  Johannine  Epistles  do  not  fall  within  our  survey,  a-s  explained  in 
the  P  iff  ace. 

2  Deissraann,  Bibelttudien,  p.  246. 


6  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES 

audience.  But  they  are  more  than  general  treatises. 
They  presuppose  special  situations  in  the  communities 
which  they  address.  These  situations,  which  seem  to  be 
common  to  many  localities,  are  sufficiently  important  to 
call  for  definite  treatment.  This  treatment  is  invariably 
practical.  And  the  religious  ideas  emphasised  in  the 
documents  serve  mainly  to  provide  motive  power  for  urging 
home  their  exhortations.  Accordingly  the  argument  from 
silence  is  in  this  case  peculiarly  hazardous.  We  are  often 
compelled  to  form  a  judgment  of  the  standpoints  of  the 
writers  rather  from  the  general  atmosphere  of  their  thought 
than  from  any  detailed  doctrines. 

(e)  Scheme  of  Treatment 

The  real  background  of  the  Theology  of  the  Epistles 
is  the  faith  of  the  primitive  Christian  community,  having 
its  direct  basis  in  the  impression  created  by  the  historical 
Jesus,  and  confirmed  by  the  conviction  that  He  had  con- 
quered sin  and  death.  But,  as  has  already  been  indicated, 
our  direct  evidence  for  the  earliest  type  of  Christianity 
is  scanty  in  the  extreme.  '  We  are  restricted  to  some 
information  in  Acts  and  the  Pauline  Epistles,  to  inferences 
from  the  Gospels  and  Paul,  and  to  that  which  may  be 
gathered  from  the  nature  of  the  historical  situation.'  1 
We  must  attempt  to  fill  in  this  dim  background  as  the 
opportunity  offers.  Meanwhile,  we  are  confronted  with  a 
mass  of  unchallengeable  and  illuminating  data  when  we 
approach  the  Letters  of  St.  Paul. 

1.  Paul.  No  figure  in  early  Christianity  stands  out 
before  us  in  such  glowing  clearness  as  its  greatest  missionary. 
The  frankness  of  his  self-revelation,  the  overmastering 
sway  of  his  personality,  the  sheer  force  and  sweep  of  his 
Christian  faith,  the  enthusiasm  of  his  devotion  to  Christ, 
all  combine  to  focus  our  interest  on  this  master-builder  of 
the  early  Church.  Consider  the  range  of  his  influence. 
It  was  Paul  who  liberated  Christianity  from  the  trammels  of 

1  Wrede,  op.  cit.,  p.  05. 


INTRODUCTION  7 

Judaism,  and  thus  opened  up  for  it  a  world-wide  mission. 
There  were  tendencies,  no  doubt,  in  the  Christian  con- 
sciousness of  Jewish  believers  throughout  the  Diaspora, 
which  helped  to  prepare  the  way  for  his  achievement. 
Jewish  Christians,  e.g.,  had  inaugurated  a  mission  to  Greeks 
at  Antioch.1  But  a  penetrating  insight  into  the  mind  of 
Christ  and  a  dauntless  energy  of  purpose  were  needful 
in  order  to  carry  through  a  movement  which  to  many 
devout  souls  must  have  appeared  treachery  to  the  revealed 
will  of  God.  But  not  only  was  Paul  responsible  for  the 
real  creation  of  heathen-Christianity.  Although  we  have 
no  immediate  evidence,  the  subsequent  history  of  the  Church 
is  sufficient  proof  that  his  influence  reacted  on  the  Jewish- 
Christian  section  of  the  community.  He  may  have  re- 
mained more  or  less  suspect  in  the  eyes  of  Palestinian 
believers,2  but  for  Christian  Jews  throughout  the  Empire 
his  positions  must  have  acquired,  at  least  up  to  a  certain 
epoch ,  an  increasing  validity .  It  was  only  in  some  heretical 
Jewish -Christian  sects  that  the  tradition  of  hatred  towards 
Paul  remained  influential. 

The  secret  of  his  constructive  power  lies  primarily  in 
his  own  Christian  experience.  For  that  experience,  from 
its  very  nature,  led  him  beyond  the  realm  of  his  personal 
interests.  It  made  him  first  of  all  an  ardent  missionary. 
But  his  mission-work  involved  the  interpretation  not 
merely  of  that  epoch-making  contact  with  Christ  which 
gave  him  his  Gospel,  but  also  of  the  facts  and  processes 
which  lay  behind  it.  He  was  compelled  to  formulate  a 
Christian  apologetic,  wide  in  scope  and  admitting  of  varied 
applications.  For  the  very  sum  and  substance  of  his 
message  was  '  to  Jews  a  stumbling-block,  to  Greeks  folly ' 
(1  Cor.  i.  23).  Hence,  a  vital  element  in  his  missionary 
enterprise  was  the  elaboration  of  Christian  ideas  on  the 
basis  of  actual  experience,  and  the  relating  of  these,  on  the 
one  side,  to  minds  steeped  in  the  religion  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, on  the  other,  to  a  mixed  multitude  of  cultivated  and 
ignorant  Greeks  and  Orientals.     But  his  task  did  not  end 

1  Acts  xi.  20.  •  Acts  xxi.  21. 


8  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES 

with  the  presentation  and  defence  of  Christianity.  The 
training  of  converts  would  be  almost  as  pressing  an  obliga- 
tion. So  to  Paul  fell  the  duty  of  disclosing  the  ethical 
bearing  of  the  central  Christian  truths,  and  the  process 
shed  back  new  light  on  the  fundamental  conceptions  of 
the  faith.  But  the  man  who  showed  such  concern  as  to 
the  life  and  conduct  of  those  whom  he  had  won  for  Christ 
must  have  been  careful  to  give  directions  for  the  regulation 
of  their  existence  as  communities.  It  is  certain  that  during 
his  lifetime  there  was  much  elasticity  in  the  matter  of 
organisation,  for  we  can  gather  from  various  passages 
that  the  guidance  of  the  Church  was  associated  with  special 
'  gifts '  rather  than  fixed  offices.1  Still  we  may  infer 
from  the  answers  given  to  the  questions  referred  to  Paul 
by  the  Christians  in  Corinth,  that  his  practical  wisdom 
largely  determined  the  lines  along  which  a  definite  organisa- 
tion gradually  took  shape. 

We  are  justified,  then,  in  making  the  religious  thought 
of  St.  Paul  the  starting-point  of  our  investigation.  The 
considerations  already  emphasised  determine  the  method 
to  be  followed.  When  Paul  became  a  Christian,  he  was 
an  ardent  Pharisee,  who  had  made  full  use  of  his  training 
in  the  Rabbinic  schools  of  Jerusalem.  But  by  birth  he 
was  a  Jew  of  the  Diaspora,  and  most  of  his  Christian  career 
was  spent  in  a  Hellenistic  milieu.  We  must  therefore 
attempt  to  estimate  the  significance  of  his  education  and 
environment  for  his  work  as  an  interpreter  of  Christianity. 
But  no  influence  in  his  history  can  compare  with  his  con- 
version. To  form  any  intelligible  idea  of  this  crisis,  we 
must  examine  his  experience  in  Judaism,  laying  special 
stress  upon  those  elements  to  which  he  himself  makes 
constant  reference  in  describing  human  helplessness  and 
need.  Thus  we  shall  be  able  to  judge  what  his  conversion 
meant,  more  especially  as  a  summons  to  new  life  and 
service.  In  the  light  of  his  new  vocation  as  a  missionar}* 
of  Christ,  we  shall  try  to  discover  the  normative  influence 
of  his  conversion    for   his   religious   thought.     But  it  if 

1   E.'j.  Iloin.  xii.  3-8;    1  Cor.  xii. 


INTRODUCTION  9 

necessary  to  recognise  that  when  Paul  entered  the  Christian 
Church,  he  found  there  the  beginnings  of  a  theology. 
Those  elements  in  it  which  were  predominantly  Jewish 
were  familiar  to  him  already.  The  new  thing  was  the 
tradition  of  the  life  and  teaching  of  Jesus,  and  the  Church's 
endeavour  to  reach  an  adequate  interpretation  of  it.  This 
situation  must  have  affected  at  various  points  the  con- 
clusions at  which  he  had  arrived  as  the  result  of  his  con- 
version. In  these  conclusions,  as  to  some  extent  modified 
by  the  current  Christian  tradition,  we  shall  look  for  the 
fundamental  positions  of  Paulinism.1 

2.  Post-Pauline  Christianity.  The  Christian  experience 
of  Paul  must  not  be  regarded  as  normal  in  early  Chris- 
tianity. His  was  a  unique  individuality.  And  he  had 
to  pass  through  a  singular  crisis.  Hence  we  need  not  be 
surprised  to  find  that,  while  his  influence  in  the  Church 
of  the  first  century  was  epoch-making,  some  of  his  pro- 
founder  conceptions  were  not  grasped  by  average  Christian 
thought.  Moreover,  as  time  went  on,  reactionary  influ- 
ences asserted  themselves.  Even  in  Paul's  day  many  of 
the  converts  from  heathenism  had  been  prepared  for  the 
step  they  took  by  their  connection  with  the  worship  and 
doctrine  of  Jewish  synagogues.  Jews  in  large  numbers 
had  entered  the  Christian  community.  Thus,  when  the 
burning  controversy  as  to  the  necessity  of  the  Law  for 
salvation  had  died  away,  the  fundamental  ideas  of  Jewish 
monotheism  were  bound  to  exercise  their  sway.  The 
second  generation  of  Christians  would  be  specially  con- 
cerned with  problems  of  conduct  in  a  heathen  environment. 
Now  much  of  the  best  Hellenistic  thought  was  at  this 

1  The  Epistles  to  the  Thessalonians,  Galatians,  Romans,  Corinthians, 
Colossians,  Ephesians,  and  Philippians  will  be  used  as  sources  in  this 
investigation.  These,  with  the  exception  of  Ephesians,  are  accepted  by 
most  modern  scholars  as  Pauline.  Space  does  not  admit  of  a  detailed 
argument  in  favour  of  the  present  writer's  firm  conviction  that  Ephesians 
is  a  typically  Pauline  document.  Readers  may  consult  Professor  Peake's 
careful  discussion  in  his  Critical  Introduction  to  the  N.  T.,  pp.  53-57.  There 
they  will  also  find  a  well-balanced  statement  of  the  reasons  which  prevent 
us  from  citing  the  Pastoral  Epistles  as  evidence  for  Paul's  religious 
thought  (pp.  60-71). 


10  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES 

period  occupied  with  similar  questions.  So  the  demand  for 
definite  guidance  in  the  details  of  practical  life  brought  in  a 
new  legalism,  whose  influence  was  to  grow  with  the  develop- 
ment of  the  Catholic  Church.  Besides,  as  the  first  enthu- 
siasm of  the  early  days  began  to  fade,  a  formal  Christian 
tradition  would  gradually  take  shape,  which,  because  of  its 
lower  level  of  conviction,  would  be  less  exclusive  of  influ- 
ences from  outside.  This  attitude  is  reflected  in  varying 
degrees  in  the  literature  which  may  be  described  as  embody- 
ing the  Theology  of  the  Developing  Church.  But  before  we 
discuss  that  phase  of  early  Christian  thought,  we  must 
examine  the  religious  ideas  of  two  documents,  one  of 
which  seems  to  reflect  the  best  type  of  Christianity  current 
in  the  Church  contemporary  with  Paul,  while  the  other 
represents  a  markedly  individual  outlook,  revealing  points 
of  affinity  with  Paulinism,  but  still  more  the  Alexandrian 
interpretation  of  Judaism,  baptized  into  Christianity. 

a.  First  Peter.  The  First  Epistle  of  Peter  consists  largely 
of  exhortations  to  various  communities  of  heathen- 
Christians  in  Asia  Minor,  who  were  exposed  to  persecutions 
of  a  private  and  perhaps  also  of  a  public  character.  The 
religious  convictions  of  the  author  are  introduced,  not  for 
their  own  sake  as  instruction  in  Christian  truth,  but  as 
the  driving  power  behind  his  exhortations.  To  a  marked 
degree,  therefore,  the  ideas  emphasised  are  determined  by 
the  situation  of  the  readers.  But  they  give  an  interesting 
glimpse  of  the  ground  taken  by  an  authoritative  Church- 
leader,  who  has  learned  something  from  Paul's  view  of 
Christianity,  and  yet  is  far  from  being  a  mere  echo  of  the 
great  apostle. 

The  Letter  bears  the  name  of  Peter,  and,  if  we  follow 
so  eminent  a  scholar  as  Mommsen  in  believing  that  the 
persecutions  which  constitute  the  one  clear  datum  of  the 
Epistle  may  reasonably  be  placed  as  early  as  the  reign  of 
Nero,  there  is  no  need  to  doubt  a  claim  which  has  un- 
usually good  external  evidence.1     There  is  little  force  in 

1  For  the  details,  see  the  Hdruiruhle  discussion  in  Moffatt's  Intruduction 
pp.  319-342. 


INTRODUCTION  11 

the  objection  that  the  Epistle  ignores  the  life  and  teaching 
of  Jesus,  which  Peter  knew  at  first  hand,  and  concentrates 
attention  on  His  sufferings,  death,  and  resurrection.1 

The  selection  of  material  is  determined  by  the  purpose  in 
hand,  and,  in  any  case,  these  crucial  events  must  have  held 
a  commanding  place  in  the  hearts  and  minds  of  all  the 
early  disciples.  Nor  is  there  any  real  difficulty  in  the 
affinities  with  Paul.  That  which  the  two  apostles  had  in 
common,  as  belonging  to  the  authoritative  Christian  tradi- 
tion, must  have  far  surpassed  their  differences.  Moreover, 
it  is  not  unlikely  that  an  impressionable  nature  such  as 
Peter's  would  at  various  points  reveal  the  influence  of  the 
dominating  intellect  of  his  brother -missionary.  But  even 
if  the  Petrine  authorship  be  disallowed,  the  Epistle  presents 
an  impressive  picture  of  the  solicitude  of  an  earnest  pastor 
who  has  at  his  command  a  rich  store  of  weighty  Christian 
arguments  resting  on  convictions  which  were  central  for 
the  Christian  community  of  his  time. 

^.  Hebrews.  So  much  of  the  Pauline  spirit  was  felt  to 
pervade  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  that  for  a  long  period  it 
was  included  by  many  sections  of  the  Church  among  the 
writings  of  Paul.  More  careful  research  has  shown  that  the 
book  is  unique  in  New  Testament  literature.  Its  affinities 
with  crucial  conceptions  of  Paulinism  are  obvious.  But  it 
especially  represents  the  blending  of  a  distinct  type  of 
culture  with  Christian  belief,  and  serves  to  remind  us  of  the 
varieties  of  thought  which  found  a  home  in  the  Christian 
society.  The  comparison  of  the  Old  Covenant  with  the 
New,  which  forms  the  kernel  of  the  Epistle,  is  elaborated 
with  all  the  skill  of  Alexandrian  theological  equipment. 
Yet  here,  too,  the  end  in  view  is  chiefly  the  practical  one  of 
sustaining  a  faith  which  falters  under  trials. 

7.  The  Theology  of  the  Developing  Church.  The  Pastoral 
Epistles,  while  incorporating  genuine  Pauline  fragments 
and  traditions,  we  are  unable  to  regard  in  their  present  form 
as  compositions  of  the  apostle  Paul.     Therefore  we  group 

1  Heinrici  notes  the  core paratively  frequent  points  of  contact  in  1  Peter 
with  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount. 


12  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES 

them  with  Jude,  James,  and  2  Peter  as  monuments  of  the 
general  religious  thought  of  the  developing  Church.  They 
are  characteristic  products  of  that  post-Pauline  evolution 
which  has  been  sketched  in  the  introductory  paragraph  of 
this  section.  They  are  '  Catholic  '  Epistles  in  the  strict 
sense,  having  in  view  a  wide  circle  of  Christian  communities 
and  dealing  principally  with  the  perils  which  beset  Christian 
life  and  doctrine  between,  say,  90  and  150  a.d.  We  have 
no  space  for  the  treatment  of  detailed  questions  as  to 
authorship,  readers,  etc.  For  these  reference  must  be 
made  to  such  works  as  Professor  Peake's  Critical  Intro- 
duction (cited  above)  and  Professor  Moffatt's  Introduction 
to  the  Literature  of  the  New  Testament,  with  whose 
fundamental  positions  regarding  the  Epistles  in  question 
the  present  writer  is  in  agreement.  We  shall  attempt  to 
show  that  these  documents  reveal  the  same  general  religious 
atmosphere,  that  they  presuppose  the  same  type  of  pro- 
blems, and  that,  while  each  writer  maintains  his  own 
individuality,  he  is  exposed  to  the  pressure  of  similar 
influences,  Hellenistic  and  Jewish,  which  mark  a  definite 
stage  in  the  development  of  early  Christianity.  This 
development  appears  in  such  sub -apostolic  writings  as 
1  Clement,  the  Epistle  of  Barnabas,  and  the  '  Shepherd  ' 
of  Hermas. 


PART  I 
PAULINISM 

CHAPTER  I 

st.  paul's  environment 

It  is  a  common  modern  fallacy  to  suppose  that  a  pheno- 
menon may  be  adequately  explained,  if  only  its  origin  can 
be  accounted  for.  The  risk  of  error  is  most  serious  when 
we  are  dealing  with  individualities.  The  man  is  larger  than 
bis  heredity  and  more  potent  than  his  environment.  And 
his  superiority  to  training  and  circumstances  increases  in 
the  ratio  of  his  creative  power.  The  apostle  Paul  is,  of  all 
men,  the  least  likely  to  satisfy  mechanical  tests.  His  was 
one  of  those  spontaneous,  ardent,  conquering  natures, 
whose  vitality  and  daring  were  subject  only  to  the  mind  and 
will  of  Christ.  Yet  we  should  fail  to  understand  the  real 
significance  of  his  religious  experience  and  the  forms 
in  which  it  finds  expression,  did  we  not  attempt  a  brief 
review  of  the  influences  amid  which  he  grew  to  maturity, 
and  the  spiritual  forces  which  were  bound  to  leave  their 
mark  upon  him. 

(a)  Judaism 

There  is  a  ring  of  natural  pride  in  Paul's  enumeration 
of  his  ancestral  and  acquired  privileges  :  '  If  any  one  pre- 
sumes to  have  confidence  in  outward  prerogatives,  I  more  : 
circumcised  the  eighth  day  '  (as  contrasted  with  proselytes), 
'  of  the  race  of  Israel,  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin  '  (which  had 
remained  loyal  to  the  Davidic  house),  'a  Hebrew  born  of 

13 


14  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  l 

Hebrew  parents,  as  regards  the  Law  a  Pharisee,  according 
to  the  legal  standard  of  righteousness  blameless.' 1  And 
his  bewilderment  at  the  refusal  of  his  nation  to  recognise 
the  fulfilment  of  the  Divine  purpose  for  them  in  Christ  is 
intensified,  as  he  recognises  the  gifts  bestowed  upon  them 
in  the  providence  of  God  :  '  To  whom  belong  the  son- 
ship  and  the  manifestation  of  the  Divine  glory,  and  the 
covenants,  and  the  Divine  legislation  and  the  worship  and 
the  promises,  from  whom,  as  regards  natural  descent,  the 
Messiah  has  sprung.'  2  Although  as  a  Christian  missionary, 
describing  his  methods,  he  can  take  up  so  detached  a 
position  as  to  say  :  '  I  became  to  the  Jews  as  a  Jew,  that 
I  might  win  Jews,'  3  he  had  never  lost  his  absorbing 
interest  in  the  race  which  gave  him  birth.  No  more  con- 
vincing evidence  could  be  found  than  the  argument  by 
which,  in  face  of  invincible  difficulties,  he  wrestles  to 
explain  the  rejection  of  the  Christian  revelation  by  the  elect 
nation  as  a  temporary  aberration  which  is  being  overruled 
for  good.4 

No  hasty  conclusions  must  be  drawn  from  the  fact  that 
Paul  was  born  in  Tarsus,  a  citj'  of  Cilicia,  which  formed 
part  of  one  of  the  provinces  of  the  Roman  Empire.  It  is 
true  that  a  more  liberal  attitude  to  non -Jewish  society 
prevailed  among  Jews  of  the  Diaspora.5  But  a  treatise  like 
the  'Aboda  Zara,  intended  to  regulate  the  relations  be- 
tween Jews  and  the  heathen  peoples  among  whom  they 
sojourned,  puts  us  on  our  guard  against  the  impression  that 
anything  like  laxity  was  permitted.  6  No  doubt  there 
were  Jews  who  proved  disloyal  to  their  obligations.7  But 
Paul's  description  of  himself  as  having  surpassed  his  con- 
temporaries in  his  burning  devotion  to  the  ancestral 
traditions  of  Judaism  8  is  sufficient  evidence  that  he  came 

'    Phil.  iii.  4-6.  *  Rom.  ix.  4,  6. 

•  1  Cor.  ix.  20.  *  Rom.  ix.-xi. 

•  See  Bertholet,  Die  Strtlung  d.  ItrtuKtm  u.  d.  Juden  zu  den  Fremden. 
p.  317  f.,  for  requirements  for  converts  from  heathenism.  Philo's  attitude, 
as  disclosed  in  his  works,  is  peculiarly  instructive. 

1   See,  e.g.,*Aboda  Zara  (ed.  Elmslie),  i.  i.  p.  4. 

7    \n  insci i|>t ion  of  Miletus  apparently  marks  the  piece  allotted  to  Jew» 
in  (he  city  theatre  ;    see  Deiesmenn,  Li'-fit  roiri  OaUnt  p.  326  f. 
s  Gal.  i.  14. 


ch.  i.]  ST.  PAUL'S  ENVIRONMENT  15 

of  a  fami'y  which  kept  to  orthodox  paths.  Jerome  hands 
down  an  interesting  report  that  Paul's  parents  had  come 
to  Tarsus  from  Gischala,  a  town  in  Galilee.  The  story  need 
not  be  an  invention.  Many  Jews  were  taken  captive  in 
Roman  expeditions,  and  removed  to  various  parts  of  the 
Empire,  and  some  at  least  of  these  received  the  privilege 
of  Roman  citizenship.1 

The  youth  was  trained  at  Jerusalem  in  the  school  of  one 
of  the  most  celebrated  rabbis  in  all  Jewish  history, 
Gamaliel  I.,  of  whom  it  was  said  :  '  Since  Rabban  Gamaliel 
the  elder  died,  there  has  been  no  more  reverence  for  the 
Law.' 2  The  chief  element  in  his  education  would  be  the 
art  of  interpreting  the  Old  Testament  according  to  the 
approved  Rabbinic  methods.  These  methods  were  pre- 
eminently allegorical  or  typological.  Good  examples  in 
Paul's  letters  are  Gal.  iv.  21-31,  where  he  uses  the  Genesis- 
story  of  the  quarrel  between  Sarah  and  Hagar  as  an 
allegory  of  the  struggle  between  the  servile  religion  of 
legalism  and  the  freedom  which  belongs  to  the  religion  of 
Christ ;  and  1  Cor.  x.  6-11,  where  the  temptations  which 
overcame  the  Israelites  in  the  wilderness  are  regarded  as 
a  direct  warning  written  down  for  the  sake  of  Christian 
readers  in  after  ages.  Occasionally  he  follows  the  Rabbinic 
custom  of  taking  an  Old  Testament  passage  entirely  out 
of  its  connection,  when  he  can  make  apt  use  of  it  as  an 
argument ;  so,  e.g.,  1  Cor.  xiv.  21,  where  he  introduces  a 
sentence  from  Isa.  xxviii.  11,  'by  men  of  alien  tongues 
and  by  the  lips  of  aliens  shall  I  speak  to  this  people,'  into 
a  discussion  on  '  speaking  with  tongues '  in  the  primitive- 
Christian  sense.  He  also  has  a  predilection  like  the  Rabbis 
for  constructing  centos  of  quotations  from  various  parts 
of  the  Old  Testament  to  support  some  thesis  :  e.g.  Rom.  iii. 
10-18,  in  which  is  demonstrated  the  universality  of  sin. 
No  better  instance  of  deftness  in  constructing  an  argument 
in  the  very  language  of  Scripture  could  be  cited  than 
Gal.  iii.  7-18,  which  seeks  to  establish  the  position  that  the 

1  See  Zahn,  Einl.  in  d.  N.  T-,  i.  p.  48  f.,  note  16. 

1  Sota,  ix.  15,  quoted  by  Scuiirer,  H.  J.  P.  (E.  tr.),  n.  i.  p.  364. 


16  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft.  i. 

true  heirs  of   the  promises  made  to   Abraham   are  the 
members  of  the  Christian  community. 

But  this  scholastic  technique,  important  as  it  was 
reckoned,  by  no  means  furnished  the  most  vital  part  of 
Paul's  education.  That  lay  in  his  acquaintance  with  the 
sacred  book  itself.  The  Law  came  first :  then  the 
Prophets  and  the  '  Writings,'  more  especially  the  Psalms. 
No  doubt  for  an  ardent  Pharisee  like  Paul  the  Law  stood 
supreme.  But  righteousness  at  this  period  included  more 
than  ceremonial.  The  Law  abounded  in  moral  demands, 
and  from  beginning  to  end  of  the  Epistles  we  are  conscious 
of  the  moral  discipline  which  formed  the  background  of 
his  religious  life.  He  was  also  completely  at  home  in  the 
Prophets  and  Psalms.  It  is  true  that  these  held  a  secondary 
place  in  Jewish  estimation  as  compared  with  the  Law.1 
But  they  were  read  in  the  public  services  of  the  synagogue, 
and  the  use  which  Paul  makes  of  them  as  a  Christian 
missionary  is  sufficient  evidence  of  the  impression  they 
must  have  left  upon  his  mind  at  an  early  period.  Yet 
there  can  be  little  question  that  he  rediscovered  their 
significance  in  the  light  of  his  Christian  experience.  A 
superficial  glance  may  see  in  Paul's  debt  to  the  religious 
heritage  of  his  nation  little  more  than  frequent  survivals  of 
that  later  Judaism  in  which  he  was  reared.  But  those 
who  look  deeper  will  find  that  he  has  grasped  the  religious 
content  of  the  Old  Testament  in  its  fundamental  aspects. 
Only,  it  has  been  so  closely  woven  into  the  very  texture  of 
his  ideas  that  these  must  be  analysed  in  order  to  disclose 
their  basis.  It  goes  without  saying  that  this  applies  to 
the  Messianic  bearing  of  many  sections  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. By  an  amazing  spiritual  intuition  Paul  catches 
sight  of  the  organic  unity  of  the  Divine  self -manifestation. 
Often  in  such  instances  he  makes  no  quotations.  Yet  one 
cannot  study,  e.g.,  his  view  of  the  value  and  significance  of 
the  Death  of  Christ  without  perceiving  that  the  Suffering 
Servant  of  Deutero-Isaiah  stands  in  the  background.  So 
also  his  great  conceptions  of  the   '  knowledge '   of  God, 

1  Cf.  Holtzmann,  N.  T.  Theologie  «,  i.  p.  51. 


ch.  i.J  ST.  PAUL'S  ENVIRONMENT  17 

the  '  Spirit '  of  God,  the  '  righteousness '  of  God,  and  many 
more  presuppose  the  positions  taken  by  prophets  and 
psalmists.  But  just  as  the  teaching  of  Jesus  has  been  so 
fully  assimilated  by  him  that  direct  references  are  only 
necessary  when  detailed  problems  arise,  so  we  may  expect 
to  find  the  foundation -truths  of  the  prophetic  religion  as 
implicit  rather  than  explicit  factors  in  his  theological 
construction.  It  is  always,  at  least,  wise  to  exhaust  the 
possibilities  in  this  direction,  before  we  venture  to  postulate 
the  influence  of  Hellenistic  ideas.  At  no  point  does  Paul 
stand  more  directly  in  the  lineage  of  Jesus  than  in  his 
maintenance  of  the  prophetic  tradition. 

The  recognition  of  these  facts  ought  not,  however,  to 
blind  us  to  the  influence  upon  Paul  of  the  Jewish  Theology 
which  had  developed  in  the  Rabbinic  schools.  When  we 
use  the  term  '  theology  !  in  this  connection,  we  must  not 
think  of  any  elaborate  system.  That  was  alien  to  the 
mind  of  pre-Christian  Judaism.  But  a  vast  number  of 
elucidations  and  applications  of  the  sacred  text  had 
accumulated  which  were  at  a  later  date  to  be  codified  in 
the  Mischna.  These  were  due  to  the  wisdom  of  many 
teachers,  of  whom  the  most  famous  were  the  so-called 
Tannaites.1  This  exegetical  tradition  of  the  schools  had 
attained  a  virtual  equality  of  authority  with  the  Law 
itself.  It  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  determine  the  chrono- 
logy of  the  various  strata  in  the  material.  Hence  it  must 
be  used  with  caution  in  any  attempt  to  reconstruct  the 
Judaistic  background  of  Paul. 

We  are  on  surer  ground  in  the  endeavour  to  determine 
those  religious  ideas  of  Judaism  with  which  Paul  must  have 
been  familiar,  when  we  turn  to  the  apocalyptic  literature 
which  was  so  influential  in  the  first  century  before  and  the 
first  century  after  Christ.  This  literature  was,  in  the  main, 
a  product  of  Pharisaism,  but,  while  it  may  be  going  too  far 
to  say  that  it  was  a  deliberate  reaction  against  the  more 
formal  piety  of  Scribism,2  it  certainly  seems  to  represent  a 

1  See  Bacher's  invaluable  compilation,  Die  Agada  der  Tannaiten. 
*  So,  in  effect,  Baldensperger,  Die  Messianisch-Apokalyptischen  Hoff- 
nungen  d.  Judentuma  3,  e.g.  p.  83  f. 

B 


18  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  i. 

wider  outlook  and  a  deeper  religious  need.  At  many  points 
its  ruling  conceptions  can  scarcely  be  distinguished  from 
those  to  be  found  in  the  later  prophets,  as,  e.g.,  Joel.  Like 
these,  apocalyptic  literature  looks  forward  to  a  cata- 
strophic intervention  of  God  in  history,  an  intervention 
in  which  His  chosen  people  shall  be  vindicated,  a  new 
order  of  salvation  established,  and  the  enemies  of  the  Most 
High,  who  are  also  the  enemies  of  the  elect  nation,  visited 
with  merited  punishment.  The  content  of  the  apoca- 
lypses is  therefore  largely  eschatological,  and  the  events 
of  the  end  are  closely  associated  with  those  Messianic  ex- 
pectations which  had  for  centuries  agitated  their  minds. 

Certain  features  in  the  apocalyptic  picture  were  of 
special  importance.  The  entire  course  of  things  was 
divided  into  two  '  ages.'  The  present  was  evil,  an  age  of 
sin  and  suffering  under  the  sway  of  malicious  powers. 
But  the  coming  age  was  to  be  the  inauguration  of  perfect 
felicity  under  the  rule  of  God  Himself.  The  conceptions 
of  this  blissful  future  show  much  divergence.  In  some 
apocalypses  it  is  delineated  as  life  on  a  transfigured  earth. 
In  others  it  belongs  to  a  transcendental  order,  akin  to  our 
own  conception  of  '  Heaven,'  in  which  material  well- 
being  is  exchanged  for  spiritual.  In  any  case,  it  means 
the  final  establishment  of  the  dominion  of  God  and  the 
vanquishing  of  all  those  forces  which  oppose  Him.  This 
new  epoch  was  frequently,  although  by  no  means  invariably, 
associated  with  the  figure  of  the  Messiah,  who  was  regarded 
as  the  vicegerent  of  God.  Here,  again,  there  are  noteworthy 
variations  in  the  picture.  Some  writers  describe  the 
Messiah  as  a  monarch  of  the  house  of  David,  supernaturally 
equipped  for  his  unique  functions.  For  others  he  is  a 
dim  transcendental  figure,  perhaps  of  angelic  rank,  who 
is  revealed  from  heaven  for  purposes  of  judgment  and  the 
wielding  of  Divine  authority.  It  would  be  precarious  to 
determine  what  precise  conception  of  a  personal  Messiah 
prevailed  in  the  environment  to  which  Paul  belonged. 
And  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  often  all  Messianic 
offices  were  ascribed  to  God  alone.     Whichever  of  these 


ch.  i.]  ST.  PAUL'S  ENVIRONMENT  19 

views  might  be  dominant,  the  new  epoch  was  introduced 
by  resurrection  and  judgment.  The  pictures  are  often 
inconsistent,  and  cannot  be  harmonised.  The  resurrection, 
in  the  view  of  some  apocalyptic  writers,  only  embraces  the 
righteous.  For  others,  it  is  universal.  The  judgment 
includes  all  within  its  sweep,  although  the  representations 
of  it  are  confusing.  Retribution  has  come  to  take  a  funda- 
mental place  in  Jewish  piety,  and  now,  owing  to  the  growth 
of  individualism  in  religion,  men  are  not  judged  in  the 
mass,  as  in  earlier  Hebrew  thought,  but  each  separate 
person  receives  his  verdict  from  God.  In  the  one  case  that 
will  be  deliverance  from  His  wrath,  salvation,  eternal  life. 
In  the  other  it  is  death,  or  destruction.  At  a  later  stage 
we  shall  see  how  definitely  the  apocalyptic  forecast,  briefly 
sketched  above,  has  left  its  mark  on  the  thought  of  Paul. 
Meanwhile,  let  us  review  certain  aspects  of  Jewish  theology, 
attested  both  by  apocalyptic  and  rabbinic  literature,  which 
must  have  formed  integral  elements  in  the  apostle's  early 
religious  position. 

Paul  brought  with  him  into  the  Christian  Church  his 
convinced  monotheism.  And  even  his  high  Christology 
never  detracted  from  that.  But  his  idea  of  God  assumed 
a  new  colour  in  the  light  of  the  revelation  of  Christ,  and  so 
it  will  be  serviceable  to  have  before  us  a  brief  sketch  of  the 
view  of  God  which  dominated  that  Judaism  in  which  he 
was  brought  up.  It  is  needless  to  observe  that  for  a 
Pharisee  the  supreme  revelation  of  God  was  to  be  found  in 
the  written  Law,  which  was  regarded  as  His  revealed  will. 
Now  the  larger  part  of  the  ritual  which  the  written  Law 
codified  was  concerned  with  the  regulation  of  the  approach 
of  impure  men  to  an  all-holy  Deity.  The  conception  of 
God's  holiness,  therefore,  partly  physical,  partly  possessing 
a  real  moral  grandeur,  dwarfed  for  the  average  worshipper 
the  other  qualities  which  men  yearn  for  in  God.  Hence 
it  was  inevitable  that  a  great  chasm  should  be  felt  to  lie 
between  the  all-holy  One  and  His  frail,  sin-burdened 
votaries.  We  do  not  wish  for  a  moment  to  minimise  the 
thought   of    God's   grace   and    loving-kindness    which   is 


20  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pi.  i. 

certainly  visible.1  But  it  is  overshadowed  by  the  fear  of 
transgressing  wittingly  or  unwittingly  the  code  of  precepts 
which  represents  God's  mind  for  His  people.  And  so  the 
priest  comes  in,  to  begin  with,  as  man's  representative 
before  God  ;  and  later,  the  rabbi  or  scribe  as  the  inter- 
preter of  the  sacred  documents,  whose  judgment  may  be 
followed  in  situations  which  are  difficult  of  decision.  But 
even  '  the  very  conception  that  God  had  spoken  once  for 
all  in  the  Law  removed  Him  further  off  from  the  ordi- 
nary worshipper,  and  in  combination  with  other  influences 
yielded  the  post-exilic  idea  of  the  transcendent  God,  who 
deals  with  His  world  only  through  the  agency  of  innumer- 
able intermediate  beings.'  2 

This  necessity  for  mediating  powers  between  God  and 
the  world  accounts,  no  doubt,  for  the  remarkable  develop- 
ment in  angelology  which  appears  in  Judaism  after  the 
Exile.  Traces  of  it  are  to  be  found  in  Daniel,  where  the 
archangel  Michael  is  the  champion  of  Israel.3  But  in  some 
apocalypses,  as,  e.g.,  1  and  2  Enoch,  it  takes  the  form  of 
vast  hierarchies  of  angelic  beings  subordinate  to  God,  often 
identified  with  the  forces  of  nature,  and  sometimes,  as  in 
the  Book  of  Jubilees,  associated  with  the  giving  of  the  Law. 
Many  scholars  connect  these  orders  of  angels  with  Persian 
(and  ultimately,  Babylonian)  influence.  Whether  this  be 
their  origin  or  no,  it  is  probable  that  they  occupied  an  even 
more  prominent  place  in  popular  belief  than  they  did  in 
theology.4  It  is  sometimes  difficult  to  distinguish  between 
forces  of  evil  and  forces  of  good  in  these  k  powers  and 
authorities,'  as  Paul  calls  them,5  but  Judaism  certainly 
conceived  of  a  spiritual  realm  of  wickedness,  whose  head 
was  Satan  or  Belial.  Probably  in  the  lower  strata  of 
popular  ideas  the  belief  in  evil  spirits  had  always  been 
present,  but  in  the  Old  Testament  fchey  have  do  important 
role.     In  Paul  they  cannot  be  said  to  take  a  prominent 

1  Bee,  '..'/•.  the  Psalms,  pa 

*  H,  \V.  Robinson,  ReUgioua  Ideas  >>[  Old  Testament,  p,  li'b. 

*  Dan.  \.   H  :    xii.   I. 

*  Si-    B  hi  set,  /.'■','.  m  ■/.  J  :<<.  ntun  i  -'.  p.  :>79. 

*  L.j.  (  ul.  Li.  15. 


ch.  l]  ST.  PAUL'S  ENVIRONMENT  21 

place,  although  obviously  he  reckons  them  among  the 
deadliest  foes  of  the  Christian  life.1 

In  the  famous  product  of  Hellenistic  Judaism  known  as 
the  Wisdom  of  Solomon,  which  Paul  appears  to  have  read,2 
it  is  said  that  '  God  created  man  for  immortality  and 
made  him  in  the  likeness  of  his  own  proper  being,  but  by 
the  envy  of  the  devil,  death  entered  into  the  world ' 
(ii.  23,  24).  As  death  is  for  Judaism  the  wages  of  sin,  this 
statement  would  connect  sin's  origin  with  the  devil.  But 
other  explanations  are  more  common.  In  some  Jewish 
documents  sin  is  attributed  to  the  '  evil  impulse '  (Yetzer 
hara)  in  the  heart  of  man.3  The  Fall  of  Adam  is  also  a 
frequent  subject  of  speculation.  It  is  constantly  described 
as  having  brought  misery  upon  his  descendants,4  and  yet 
there  is  no  clear  doctrine  of  inherited  sin.  Death  has  come 
upon  his  posterity  through  Adam's  transgression,  but 
apparently  each  individual  is  regarded  as  responsible  for 
his  own  sin.5  The  bearing  of  this  idea  upon  Paul's  specu- 
lations must  be  noted  immediately. 

It  is  plain  that  Jewish  thought  took  a  dark  view  of 
human  frailty  and  imperfection,  although  it  is  an  exaggera- 
tion to  call  it  '  ethical  pessimism.'  6  Over  against  this 
vitiated  human  nature  stood  the  claims  of  the  Divine 
Law.  Before  religious  individualism  had  asserted  itself, 
it  was  not  so  difficult  to  conceive  a  right  relation  between 
the  community  and  their  God.  But  4  Ezra  feels  as 
poignantly  as  Paul  the  burden  for  the  individual  of  facing 
the  Law's  requirements.  Yet  the  way  of  obedience  is 
the  only  path  on  which  righteousness  can  be  won.  For 
righteousness  before  God,  acquittal  in  the  day  of  reckoning, 
is  the  reward  of  service.  The  righteous  man  is  declared  to 
be  righteous,  i.e.  is  *  justified.'  The  unrighteous  is  con- 
demned. So  inadequate  was  the  obedience  of  the  average 
man  that  the  need  was  felt  of  supplementing  it,  and  there 

1  E.g.  Eph.  vi.  11,  12. 

2  See  Grafe,  in  Abhandlungen  C.  v.  Weizsacker  gewidmet,  pp.  2.53-286. 
8  E.g.  Biraeb,  xxi.  11  ;    Kiddusehin,  306;    Pirke  Aboth,  iv.  2. 

*  E.g.  4  Ezra  vii.  11  f.  •  See  esp.  Apoc.  Barueh  liv.  19. 

•  So  Bousset,  op.  cit.,  p.  462. 


22  THE  THEOLOGY  OP  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  i. 

are  traces  of  the  idea  that  the  surplus  merit  of  notably 
pious  individuals  might  be  reckoned  to  those  who  could 
feel  no  confidence  about  their  own.  Holtzmann  lays 
stress  on  the  conception  that  the  suffering  of  another  as 
well  as  his  special  merit  could  atone  for  transgression.1 
Unquestionably  the  idea  finds  remarkable  expression  in 
the  fifty-third  chapter  of  Isaiah.  But  it  would  be  pre- 
carious to  argue  from  this  unique  passage  to  any  general 
Jewish  doctrine,  and  the  bulk  of  the  evidence,  as  Holtzmann 
himself  admits,  is  decidedly  late.  The  general  outlook, 
however,  serves  to  remind  us  of  the  positions  from  which 
Paul  started  as  a  Pharisee. 

(b)  Hellenism 

It  is  probable  that  there  was  far  less  fundamental  differ- 
ence between  Hellenistic  and  Palestinian  Judaism  than  is 
usually  assumed.  Wendland  has  most  instructively  shown, 
e.g.,  the  intimate  contact  between  Palestinian  and  Hellen- 
istic exegesis.2  And  this  relationship  no  doubt  held  good 
over  a  large  area.  So  that  we  dare  not  start  with  the 
notion  that  because  Paul  was  a  Jew  of  the  Diaspora  he 
must  have  stood  in  a  wholly  different  relation  to  Hellenism 
from  that  of  the  average  Jew  of  Palestine.  And  yet  we 
must  no  less  clearly  recognise  the  full  significance  of  the 
fact  that  Paul  grew  to  maturity  in  a  t}'pically  Hellenistic 
city,  and  that  his  most  memorable  work  was  carried  on 
among  a  Hellenistic  population. 

Attempts  have  been  recently  made  to  show  that  Paul 
had  the  advantage  of  a  training  in  a  rhetorical  school,  which 
formed  a  regular  element  in  a  good  average  education, :J 
a  training  which  might  be  received  under  Jewish  auspices. 
The  evidence  for  this  is  found  in  his  acquaintance  with 
certain  terms  current  in  popular  Stoicism,  the  use  of 
rhetorical  art  in  the  construction  of  paragraphs,  the  play 

1  Op.  cit.,  i.  pp.  79-82. 

a  Die  hellenistisrh-rbmisrhe  Kultur*,  p.  201. 

•  E.g.  J.  Weiss,  Das   Urchri*itntum,  pp.   Vi'\,  134;    Bohlig,  Die  Oeittes- 
kultur  von  Tortus,  p.  164. 


ch.  l]  ST.  PAUL'S  ENVIRONMENT  23 

upon  words,  the  elaboration  of  antitheses,  and  especially 
the  points  of  contact  which  appear  between  his  style  and 
that  of  the  Cynic -Stoic  Diatribe,  that  form  of  popular  dis- 
course which  was  a  chief  instrument  in  philosophical 
propaganda.  There  can  be  no  question  that  he  used  words 
belonging  to  the  vocabulary  of  Stoic  moral  teaching,  and 
Bultmann  has  carefully  traced  various  links  of  connection 
between  Paul  and  the  Diatribe.  But  he  admits  that  Paul 
puts  a  stamp  of  his  own  on  these  popular  types  of  expres- 
sion, and  refuses  to  venture  on  a  conjecture  as  to  how  he 
became  master  of  them.1  Much  irrelevant  theorising  has 
been  expended  on  the  rhetorical  technique  of  Paul's  com- 
position. A  few  traces  of  current  practice  may  be  dis- 
cernible.2 But  it  is  noteworthy  that  in  the  masterpieces  of 
his  spiritual  genius,  such  as  1  Cor.  xiii.  and  Rom.  viii.  31  ff ., 
he  approaches  far  closer  to  the  forms  of  Hebrew  poetry 
than  to  the  approved  '  figures  '  of  Hellenistic  art. 

In  attempting  a  brief  survey  of  Paul's  relationship  to 
his  Hellenistic  environment,  it  is  of  vital  importance  first 
of  all  to  remember  that  his  Bible  was  the  LXX.  But  the 
LXX,  with  all  its  literalness  of  rendering,  was,  like  every 
translation,  to  some  extent  an  interpretation.  Of  course 
Paul  was  well  acquainted  with  Hebrew.  But  his  religious 
thought  is  expressed  in  terms  of  the  LXX,  and  language 
necessarily  affects  ideas.  Now  it  is  no  doubt  true  that 
this  translation,  in  a  sense,  simplified  the  conceptions  of 
the  original  and  so  far  adapted  them  to  their  new  Hellen- 
istic milieu.  The  fact,  for  example,  that  the  Hebrew 
Jahweh  was  rendered  by  kv/oios,  '  lord/  a  term  already 
laden  with  religious  significance  for  the  Oriental  and- 
Hellenistic  world,  suggests  how  the  thought  of  the  apostle 
might  be  almost  unconsciously  adapted  to  the  audiences 
whom  he  had  to  address.8  This  criterion  might  be  applied 
to  words  like  irvtvfxa,  '  spirit,'   ^vxi},  '  soul/  <rdp£,  '  flesh/ 

1  Der  Stil  d.  paulinischen  Predigt,  p.  108. 

a  See  Wendland's  very  careful  estimate,  Die  urchristlichen  Literatur- 
formen,  pp.  354,  355. 

8  See  Deissmann,  Die  Hellenisierung  d.  semitischen  Monotheismus, 
pp.  13-15. 


24  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  L 

o-w/xa,  '  body,'  and  others,  which  are,  of  course,  direct 
renderings  of  Old  Testament  terms,  and  yet  may  carry 
with  them  a  Hellenistic  shade  of  meaning.  But  it  is 
surely  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  '  the  historic  pre- 
supposition of  Paul's  piety  is  the  religious  content  of  the 
Old  Testament  in  Greek.'  1  This  is  to  postulate  an  in- 
fluence of  terminology  on  thought  which  is  inconceivable 
in  the  case  of  one  who  must  have  been  an  expert  in  the 
Hebrew  original. 

There  are  good  grounds,  if  not  absolutely  conclusive, 
for  believing  that  Paul  was  acquainted  with  the  Alexandrian 
Wisdom  of  Solomon.  This  work  reveals  the  influence  of 
Greek  ideas  throughout.  The  '  formless  matter  '  of  Plato, 
the  '  world-soul '  of  the  Stoics,  the  conception  of  immor- 
tality and  of  the  body  as  the  prison  of  the  spirit,  all  find  a 
place.2  Such  notions  may  have  determined  the  emphasis 
at  various  points  in  the  apostle's  thinking,  but  we  have  only 
to  compare  him  with  a  contemporary  Jew  of  the  Diaspora, 
Philo,  to  recognise  the  vast  difference  which  has  to  be 
allowed  for  between  temperaments  exposed  to  the  same 
general  atmosphere,  but  shaped  to  diverging  issues  in 
virtue  of  their  individual  experiences.3 

At  the  same  time  we  must  not  ignore  Paul's  deliberate 
statement  that  to  '  those  outside  the  Law  '  he  had  become 
as  '  one  outside  the  Law,'  in  order  to  win  them  for  Christ.4 
How  much  does  this  mean  ?  Recent  investigation  has 
shown  that  in  the  Hellenistic  area  in  which  Paul  laboured, 
genuine  religious  aspirations  sought  satisfaction,  roughly 
speaking,  in  two  chief  directions  :  in  a  supernatural 
redemption  from  the  uncertainties  and  calamities  of  life 
through  some  sort  of  communion  with  the  Divine,  or  in 
a  patient  self-discipline,  based  on  the  idea  of  a  rational 
world-order,  whose  outcome  must  be  a  moral  life.  The 
one  tendency  found  a  home  in  the  numerous   religious 

1   Doissmnnn,  Paulus,  p.  70. 

•  E.g.  xi.  17  ;  viii.  1  ;  ix.  1">,  etc.  For  Paul's  relation  to  Wisdom, 
Of.   N  isd.  xni.  with  Kom.  i.   I  W-!i2. 

»  Bee  "ii  admirable  paragraph  in  Wernle,  Einfuhrung  (<«d.  i.)»  p-  l^r>- 
«   1  Cor.  ix.  21. 


ch.  I.]  ST.  PAUL'S  ENVIRONMENT  25 

associations  which  were  grouped  round  Mystery -cults. 
The  other  followed  the  guidance  of  that  quickened  Stoicism 
which  sought  to  rouse  men  to  self-knowledge,  and  offered 
rules  for  ethical  practice.  There  were  movements  also  in 
which  both  these  tendencies  had  a  place.1  It  is  impossible 
to  say  whether  Paul  was,  in  any  definite  sense,  alive  to 
these  movements  as  a  youth  at  Tarsus.2  In  any  case,  as  an 
active  Christian  missionary  who  was  bound  to  seek  for 
common  ground  with  his  Hellenistic  audiences,  he  must 
have  become  acquainted,  to  some  extent,  with  the  currents 
of  thought  and  feeling  which  were  moving  in  the  minds  of 
men.  Like  the  Mystery -religions,  he  proclaimed  a  great 
'  redemption.'  Like  them  he  could  speak  of  possession  by 
the  Divine.  Like  them  he  could  point  to  a  '  knowledge ' 
of  God  which  meant  not  intellectual  apprehension  but 
practical  fellowship.  Like  them  he  could  think  of  a  trans- 
formation into  the  Divine  likeness  which  was  the  very 
goal  of  being.  This  parallelism  would  be  all  to  his  advan- 
tage as  a  preacher,  and  an  educator  of  those  whom  his 
preaching  had  won .  But  his  presuppositions  were  different . 
Redemption  from  sin  was  primary  with  him,  not  redemp- 
tion from  fate.  The  Spirit  in  whose  might  he  could  do 
all  things  was  the  Holy  Spirit  which  cleansed  the  heart. 
The  '  knowledge  '  of  God,  in  his  view  of  it,  was  not  reached 
through  any  esoteric  ritual  but  by  faith  in  Jesus  Christ, 
whose  self-sacrificing  death  was  the  supreme  revelation  of 
the  Divine  love  to  sinful  men.  Thus  there  is  complete 
justification  for  Wendland's  wise  caution  :  '  Even  when 
separate  statements  and  doctrines  look  alike,  the  ultimate 
motives  and  fundamental  positions  which  have  prompted 
them  may  be  quite  different.'  3 

It  may  be  admitted  without  discussion  that  Paul  adopted 
a  variety  of  terms  and  ideas  from  popular  Stoicism.     Thus 

1  Perhaps  we  may  so  describe  the  influence  of  Posidonius,  when  looked 
at  in  its  broader  aspects. 

8  Bohlig  finds  some  interesting  parallels  between  Paul  and  Athenodorus, 
the  famous  Stoic  of  Tarsus,  as  also  between  Paul  and  the  popular  philo- 
sophical teacher,  Dion  of  Prusa,  well  known  in  Tarsus.  But  the  evidence 
is  very  slight:  see  op.  tit.,  pp.  107-128. 

8  Op.  cit.,  p.  228. 


26  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  i. 

he  speaks  of  '  conscience,'  *  nature,'  and  '  the  unfitting.'  * 
In  demonstrating  that  all  men  alike,  both  Jews  and 
heathen,  are  without  excuse  for  their  sins,  he  attributes 
to  the  heathen  the  possession  of  an  unwritten  moral  law 
implanted  by  nature  in  their  hearts,2  a  fundamental  tenet 
of  Stoic  ethics.3  In  his  terrible  indictment  of  heathenism 
he  makes  use  of  the  argument  that  a  knowledge  of  God 
may  be  gained  from  His  created  works,  and  this  we  know 
was  a  regular  Stoic  position.4  Possibly  he  was  impressed 
by  the  idea  from  its  presentation  in  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon, 
ch.  xiii.  And  the  fact  suggests  that  he  came  into  contact 
with  current  conceptions  of  the  popular  philosophy  through 
what  may  be  called  the  Jewish  apologetic  literature  of  the 
Diaspora.  In  any  case,  no  mistake  must  be  made  as  to  his 
normal  attitude  towards  the  '  wisdom  '  which  is  '  of  this 
world.'  That,  he  declares,  '  is  folly  in  the  sight  of  God.' 
For  him,  the  true  wisdom  is  embodied  in  Christ,  and  it 
consists  of  '  righteousness  and  sanctification  and  redemp- 
tion.' 5  These  things  are  not  the  attainment  of  unaided 
human  effort.  The  Stoic  doctrine  of  self-sufficiency  counted 
for  little  with  Paul.  He  certainly  puts  a  high  value  on 
every  virtue  which  may  be  manifested  in  human  character.6 
But  his  exhortation  to  his  converts  to  work  out  their  own 
salvation,  which  from  the  very  nature  of  the  case  involves 
a  life  of  moral  effort,7  is  based  on  the  conviction  of  the  living 
presence  with  them  of  the  living  God  Himself.8 

Yet  Paul  was  no  bigot.  The  common  fife  of  the  great 
cities  which  had  claimed  his  labours  is  reflected  in  the 
illustrations  he  employs  and  the  metaphors  which  give 
vividness  to  his  utterances.     Nay,  we  may  go  further  and 

1  E.g.  1  Cor.  viii.  7  ;  xi.  14  ;  Rorn.  i.  28.  The  idea  of  conscience,  how- 
ever, is  much  more  prominent  in  Philo  than  in  Stoicism. 

*  Rom.  ii.  14  f. 

s  Cf.  Cic,  de  Legibua,  i.  6,  18  :  lex  est  ratio  aumma,  insita  in  natura, 
quae  jubet  ea  quae  facienda  sunt  prohibetque  contraria. 

*  See  the  valuable  evidence  in  Lietzmann's  note  on  Rom.  i.  20,  and 
J.  Weiss,  op.  cit.,  p.  179,  note  2.  For  a  further  important  example  of  hi* 
contact  with  Hellenistic  ideas,  see  chap.  vi.  (/),  infra. 

*  1  Cor.  iii.  19  ;   i.  30. 

*  E.g.  Phil.  iv.  8. 

7  Note  the  sequence  of  thought  in  Rom.  xii. 

8  Phil.  ii.  12.  13. 


ch.  Lj  ST.  PAUL'S  ENVIRONMENT  27 

say  that  the  political  organisation  of  the  Roman  dominion 
made  its  mark  on  his  whole  programme  of  service  ;  and  his 
lofty  conception  of  the  unity  of  men  in  Christ  Jesus, 
essentially  spiritual  as  it  was,  must  have  gained  in  direct- 
ness and  power  from  his  consciousness  of  citizenship  in  an 
Empire  which  had  unified  the  known  world. 


28  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt,  i. 


CHAPTER  II 
st.  paul's  experience  under  the  religion  of  the  law 

(a)  Presuppositions 

The  experience  which  is  born  of  the  reaction  of  the  indi- 
vidual nature  upon  its  environment  is  a  far  more  potent 
force  in  shaping  a  man's  view  of  the  world  than  the  influence 
of  the  environment  in  itself.  Hence,  while  Paul's  Jewish 
nurture  and  his  contact  with  Hellenistic  civilisation  must 
have  counted  for  much  in  the  evolution  of  his  spiritual 
life  and  thought,  his  inward  religious  history  remained  the 
decisive  factor.  We  know  from  his  own  testimony  that 
the  epoch-making  event  of  that  history  was  his  conversion. 
But  if  we  are  to  form  a  true  estimate  of  the  significance 
of  an  event  which  gives  the  clue  to*  his  theology,  wre  must 
endeavour  to  understand  something  of  the  spiritual  pro- 
cesses which  culminated  in  that  extraordinary  experience. 
The  only  available  evidence  is  contained  in  Paul's  own 
Letters,  although  it  can  be  supplemented  here  and  there 
from  brief  notices  in  Acts.  Now  some  authorities  consider 
that  it  is  futile  to  attempt  to  reconstruct  any  part  of 
Paul's  pre-Christian  religious  experience  from  the  extant 
data.  They  hold  that  his  conversion  wrought  so  complete 
a  revolution  in  his  life  that  his  subsequent  descriptions  of 
his  spiritual  past  can  in  no  sense  be  taken  as  accurate.  To 
the  man  who  has  come  forth  into  a  marvellous  light,  the 
twilight  in  which  he  has  lived  before  appears  total  darkness. 
Such  a  view  is  only  partially  true.  There  is,  no  doubt, 
always  the  tendency  to  heighten  the  contrast  between  the 
past  in  which  the  .soul  was  tempest  -tossed  and  the  present 
in  which  it  has  reached  tin-  haven  of  peace.      Hut  suiel\  the 


ch.  n.]  THE  RELIGION  OF  THE  LAW  29 

scars  of  such  a  struggle  are  ineffaceable.  And  throughout 
the  ages  minds  less  sensitive  than  Paul's  have  been  able  to 
record  the  phases  of  unrest  through  which  they  journeyed 
before  reaching  the  goal  of  their  striving.  Yet  one  or  two 
cautions  are  quite  relevant.  We  have  to  recognise  first  of 
all  that  Paul  invariably  interprets  his  spiritual  past  in  the 
light  of  his  Christian  consciousness.  How  could  it  be 
otherwise  ?  The  growth  of  religious  life  cannot  be  divided 
up  into  completely  isolated  sections,  like  those  which 
compose  a  machine.  Commenting  on  the  most  famous  of 
all  Paul's  autobiographical  delineations,  Rom.  vii.  7-25, 
Dr.  Denney  aptly  says  :  '  No  one  could  have  written  the 
passage  but  a  Christian  :  it  is  the  experience  of  the  un- 
regenerate,  we  may  say,  but  seen  through  regenerate  eyes, 
interpreted  in  a  regenerate  mind.  It  is  the  apostle's 
spiritual  history,  but  universalised  :  a  history  in  which 
one  stage  is  not  extinguished  by  the  next,  but  which  is 
present  as  a  whole  to  his  consciousness,  each  stage  all  the 
time  determining  and  determined  by  the  rest.' x  Further, 
although  Paul  often  seems  to  universalise  his  own  experi- 
ence, we  must  remember  that  on  many  sides  it  was  unique. 
It  was  the  expression  of  a  nature  which  had  no  room  for 
half-hearted,  compromising  attitudes  in  the  life  of  the  soul. 
Most  men  live  by  easy  compromises  with  their  ideal.  They 
are  content  with  the  second-best.  Paul's  passionate  thirst 
for  God  chafed  at  the  commonplace.  There  must  have 
been  many  even  of  the  devout  Jews  of  his  time  who  were 
at  least  provisionally  satisfied  with  the  possession  of  a  legal 
standard  of  righteousness,  and  the  attempt  to  conform  to 
it,  however  inadequate.  What  we  know  of  Paul's  pre- 
Christian  days  suggests  that  even  then  his  principle  was 
that  of  his  later  years  :  '  This  one  thing  ...  I  press 
towards  the  goal.'  2 

(b)  Sense  of  Failure 

In  Paul's  enumeration  of  his  Jewish  prerogatives  he 
describes   himself   as    '  blameless   according  to   the  legal 

•   Expos.  O.  T„  ii.  p.  639.  2  Thil.  iii.  13,  14. 


30  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft.  i. 

standard  of  righteousness.'  l  Probably  this  is  not  to  be 
taken  as  a  studied  confession  of  his  Pharisaic  attainments, 
but  rather  as  a  large  general  statement  such  as  he  is  fond 
of  making,  intended  to  emphasise  the  contrast  between 
past  and  present.  Yet  so  far  from  clashing  with  such  self- 
revelations  as  those  of  Romans  vii.,  as  some  scholars 
assert,  it  brings  them  into  clearer  light.  It  reveals  the 
difference  between  Paul's  own  ideal  and  that  current 
among  many  of  his  contemporaries  in  Judaism. 

The  risk  which  attends  every  legalistic  scheme  of  religion 
is  the  exaltation  of  the  trivial  at  the  expense  of  the  weightier 
obligations.  It  is  easier  to  fast  twice  in  the  week,  or  to 
pay  tithes  on  mint,  anise,  and  cummin,  than  to  do  justice 
and  to  love  mercy.  The  nature  which  finds  satisfaction 
in  this  view  of  man's  relation  to  God,  whether  in  ancient 
or  modern  days,  is  that  which  delights  in  the  possession  of 
rules,  authoritatively  laid  down,  which  cover  an  immense 
variety  of  possible  situations.  To  believe  that  one  is 
pleasing  God  by  offering  a  definite  number  of  prescribed 
sacrifices,  or  repeating  a  special  group  of  petitions  at 
certain  fixed  hours  by  day  or  night,  relieves  the  conscience 
of  much  of  the  dissatisfaction  due  to  failure  in  more  serious 
moral  responsibilities.  Unquestionably  a  large  expendi- 
ture of  time  and  energy  is  necessary  to  attain  a  high  level 
even  in  this  type  of  obedience.  But  once  the  habit  is 
formed,  such  obedience  can  be  rendered  almost  mechani- 
cally. And  there  are  temperaments  which  feel  a  glow  of 
satisfaction  in  following  a  routine.  Now  the  Jewish  Law, 
as  formulated  in  the  Pentateuch,  embodied  a  vast  number 
of  ritual  prescriptions.  The  regulations  regarding  physical 
purity  form  a  noteworthy  instance.  The  tendency  to 
emphasise  external  minutiae  had  increased  under  the 
influence  of  the  Pharisees,  more  especially  in  connection 
with  the  Sabbath  law.2  But  the  authoritative  code  of 
Judaism  had  a  much  wider  scope.  The  contents  of 
Deuteronomy  reflect  at  many  points  the  moral  ideal  of  the 
great    prophets.     The    so-called    Book    of    the    Covenant 

1  Phil.  iii.  6.  •  See  Schurer,  H.  J.  P.,  n.  ii.  p.  96  f. 


ch.  u.]  THE  RELIGION  OF  THE  LAW  31 

(Ex.  xx.  22,  xxiii.  19),  which  is  probably  earlier  than 
Deuteronomy,1  and  the  *  Ten  Commandments,'  bear 
witness  to  the  high  place  occupied  by  ethical  demands. 

Here  we  touch  the  crux  of  Paul's  problem.  His  fulfil- 
ment of  the  required  observances  reached,  no  doubt,  a 
very  high  level.  He  had  in  this  respect  left  his  contem- 
poraries in  the  shade.2  But  obedience  of  such  a  character 
left  his  spiritual  nature  starved.  It  brought  no  inward 
freedom,  no  sense  of  harmony  with  God.  What  of  the 
ethical  claims  of  the  Law  ?  Must  not  real  satisfaction  be 
reached  in  this  direction  ?  At  this  point  the  apostle  lets 
us  see  into  the  depth  of  his  experience.  '  I  should  not 
have  known  what  sin  was  except  by  the  law  :  that  is  to 
say,  I  should  not  have  experienced  evil  desire  unless  the 
law  had  said  :  Thou  shalt  not  covet.  Thus  sin,  finding  its 
starting-point  in  the  commandment,  produced  in  me  all 
manner  of  evil  desire.'  3  The  words  reveal  one  fundamental 
element  in  the  situation,  the  constant  conflict  between 
self-will  and  the  claim  of  a  higher  order  identified  by  Paul 
with  the  will  of  God,  wl  h  succeeded  the  period  of  childish 
innocence.  To  that  higher  order  his  better  nature  assented, 
but  the  power  of  sin  was  ever  present,  thwarting  his 
aspirations.4  Plainly  the  incessant  struggle  in  his  effort 
to  reach  his  ideal  had  haunted  his  soul  like  a  night- 
mare. And  his  case  was  not  exceptional.  The  failure  of 
his  fellow-countrymen  was  equally  conspicuous.  Nothing 
could  be  more  instructive  than  his  deliberate  indictment 
of  Jews  who  boast  of  their  privileges  as  possessing  in  the 
Law  '  the  embodiment  of  knowledge  and  truth,'  and  yet 
lamentably  fail  to  fulfil  its  requirements.6  This  reminds 
us  of  the  wide  significance  of  the  situation  for  Paul.  He 
was  too  earnest  a  Pharisee  not  to  feel  that  the  impossibility 
of  keeping  the  Law  had  far  more  than  a  personal  bearing. 
It  was  indissolubly  bound  up  with  the  dearest  hopes  of  the 
nation.  For  it  had  become  a  fixed  dogma  of  Judaism 
that  the  Divine  inauguration  of  the  new  Messianic  epoch 

1  See  Robinson,  op.  cit.,  p.  66.  •  Gal.  i.  14. 

•  Rom.  vii.  7,  8.  *  Rom.  vii.  22,  23.  »  Rom.  ii.  17-26, 


32  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft.  i. 

depended  on  the  faithfulness  of  the  people  to  their  obliga- 
tions. So  that  failure  in  obedience  involved  the  gravest 
consequences.  The  purpose  of  God  was  being  hindered. 
How  could  the  nation  enjoy  His  favour  ?  To  so 
penetrating  a  mind  the  case  must  have  seemed  almost 
hopeless.  For  Paul  was  fully  alive  to  the  principles  of 
legalism.  This  comes  out  again  and  again.  Quoting 
from  Deut.  xxvii.  26  he  declares  :  '  It  stands  written, 
cursed  is  every  one  who  does  not  abide  by  all  that  is 
written  in  the  book  of  the  law,  to  do  it '  ;  *  and,  later  in  the 
same  Epistle,  '  I  testify  again  to  every  man  who  submits 
to  circumcision  that  he  places  himself  under  obligation  to 
perform  the  whole  law.'  2  That  this  is  no  mere  personal 
dictum  is  evident  from  such  passages  as  James  ii.  10,  and 
parallel  Rabbinic  sayings.3  Here  is  revealed  the  serious- 
ness of  the  position.  As  we  have  seen,  multitudes  could  be 
satisfied  with  compromises.  But  Paul  and  others  like- 
minded  refused  to  be  contented  with  anything  short  of 
complete  conformity.  The  words  of  Leviticus  xviii.  5 
had  sounded  like  a  knell  of  doom  in  his  ears  :  '  The  man 
who  performs  it '  (i.e.  the  righteousness  demanded  by  the 
Law)  '  shall  live  by  it.'  4  No  less  exacting  criterion  would 
be  applied  to  the  sum -total  of  his  conduct  by  a  holy  and 
righteous  God,  who  was  entitled  to  demand  flawless 
obedience.     And  the  penalty  for  disobeying  was  death. 

In  the  light  of  these  considerations  it  is  easy  to  under- 
stand Paul's  persecuting  zeal  when  some  of  Jesus'  more 
outspoken  followers,  like  Stephen,  began  to  reveal  their 
detachment  from  legal  obligations,5  and  to  proclaim  their 
Master  as  the  promised  Messiah.  The  situation  was  true 
to  human  nature.  The  earnest  Pharisee,  with  his  settled 
belief  in  the  high  destiny  of  his  nation,  was  tortured  by 
doubts  whioh  were  sapping  his  religious  position.  These 
doubts  he  was  striving  with  all  the  force  of  reason  and  feel- 
ing to  overcome.     And  now,  although  he  would  refuse  to 

1  Gal.  iii.  10.  *  GaJ.  v.  3.  3  See  Mayor  on  James  ii.  10. 

4  Rom.  x.  5.     Cf.  the  lament  in  4  Ezra  over  man's    powerlessness  in 
presence  of  the  requirements  of  God,  esp.  vii.  45-74. 
•  Acts  vi.  11-14. 


ch.  n.]  THE  RELIGION  OF  THE  LAW  33 

acknowledge  the  truth  to  himself,  they  were  reinforced  by 
this  movement  whose  centre  was  a  crucified  impostor.  In 
sheer  self-defence  he  was  compelled  to  lead  the  assault  on 
the  Nazarenes,  scarcely  realising  that  in  thus  coming 
to  close  quarters  with  them  he  was  in  truth  being  led 
with  growing  insight  to  discern  the  instability  of  his 
own  religious  attitude. 

(c)  Power  of  Sin  in  the  Flesh 

Before  we  attempt  to  estimate  the  impression  made 
upon  Paul's  mind  by  the  disciples  of  Jesus,  we  must  pause 
to  examine  his  own  explanation  of  the  failure  of  legal 
religion,  as  that  is  fundamental  for  his  entire  religious  out- 
look. Now,  although  it  may  be  impossible  to  bring  all 
his  utterances  on  the  Law  into  a  consistent  scheme,  we 
receive  a  quite  definite  answer  to  the  question  :  Why  has 
the  religion  of  the  Law  failed  to  bring  men  into  a  completely 
satisfying  relation  to  God  ?  Because  of  the  power  of  sin 
in  the  '  flesh.'  Paul  speaks  of  '  the  powerlessness  of  the 
law,  that  wherein  it  had  no  might  through  the  flesh.' * 
And  again,  taking  his  own  case  obviously  as  representative 
of  universal  experience,  he  declares,  '  Left  to  myself,  with 
my  mind  I  serve  the  law  of  God,  but  with  my  flesh  the 
law  of  sin.' 2  What  does  he  mean  by  this  law  of  sin  in 
the  '  flesh  '  ?  It  is  important  to  note  that  Paul  usually 
speaks  of  sin  not  as  individual  transgression  nor  as  abstract 
tendency  to  wrong-doing,  but  as  a  quasi -personal  power 
which  takes  possession  of  human  nature  and  leads  it  astray. 
We  emphasise  the  fact  in  order  to  make  it  clear  that  he 
holds  no  theory  of  the  inherent  evil  of  matter.  Man  as 
created  was  not  evil,  but  now,  as  a  truth  of  experience,  his 
nature  has  proved  to  be  tainted  with  sin.  Paul  uses  the 
term  '  the  flesh  '  to  describe  this  evil  nature.  The  term 
has  its  roots  in  the  Old  Testament.  There  '  flesh  '  is  often 
used  to  designate  human  nature  in  its  weakness  and  in- 

1  Rom.  viii.  3.  2  Rom.  vii.  25. 


34  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  l 

adequacy,  as  contrasted  with  God,  who  is  '  Spirit.'  s  There 
is  a  closely  allied  use  of  the  very  term  (o-ap£),  which  Paul 
employs  in  Plato  and  the  later  Platonic  schools  with  refer- 
ence to  the  body  as  the  lower  element  in  man  in  contrast  to 
the  soul.2  But  the  Hellenic  idea  rests  on  a  different  basis. 
Matter  is  evil  as  phenomenal,  as  belonging  to  the  realm  of 
Becoming  and  not  of  Being.  Paul,  like  the  Old  Testament, 
is  not  concerned  with  metaphysical  distinctions.3  He 
does  not  speculate  on  the  lines  of  a  cosmic  dualism.  What 
absorbs  his  interest  is  the  religious  significance  of  human 
nature,  its  actual  attitude  towards  God.  That  attitude  is 
perverted.  '  In  me,  I  mean  in  my  flesh,  good  does  not 
dwell.'  4  Paul's  view  of  human  life  is  constantly  described 
as  '  pessimistic'  That  is  surely  a  misconception.  It  is 
true  that  he  invariably  emphasises  the  moral  disaster  which 
is  the  consequence  of  sin,  but  no  man  was  ever  more  alive 
to  the  high  possibilities  of  human  nature  when  restored  to 
that  condition  which  was  God's  eternal  purpose  for  man- 
kind.5 In  all  that  he  says  of  sin  he  speaks  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  sincere  Christian  missionary  who  under- 
stands the  needs  of  others  because  he  has  first  grasped  his 
own.  For  Paul,  then,  the  '  flesh,'  that  is  human  nature 
apart  from  God,  gives  sin  its  material  to  work  upon,  so  that 
the  Law,  even  in  its  highest  aspect  as  the  revealed  will  of 
God,  is  made  of  no  effect.  In  narrating  his  own  inward 
conflict,  which  he  has  undoubtedly  generalised,  he  lays 
stress  on  one  feature  of  the  situation,  which,  perhaps, 
stands  out  before  him  in  clearer  relief  just  because  he  has 
subsequently  passed  into  a  condition  of  spiritual  freedom. 
That  a  man  under  the  sway  of  sin  should  be  confronted 
with  a  regime  of   moral   prohibitions  means   resentment 

1  E.g.  lea.  xxxi.  3  ;  Ps.  lvi.  4.  etc.  See  the  scholarly  discussion  in 
Robinson's  Christian  Doctrine  of  Man,  pp.  20-25. 

*  Src  asp.  Capelle's  article,  '  Body  (Greek  and  Roman},'  E.  R.  E. 

a  J'hilo  anticipate*  Paul  in  usinp  vdpt,  'flesh,1  i<>  denote  the  lower  side 
of  human  nature  as  realised  and  felt  in  ordinary  experience.  Bui  there 
is  an  important  difl  ,  in  Qig.  40,  Phil  tnd  v  i  \  -  m  sharp 

antithesis,  a  usage  n<  >•  r  found  in  Paul.  But  in  tho  same  treatise  f|  29) 
his  usage  is  extraordinarily  akin  to  Paul's  regular  contrast  i>rt  ween  <rdp{ 
and  TTv*v/ia.  *  Rom.  vii.   18. 

'  Cf.  Julicher,  Paulus  u.  Jesua,  p.  61. 


ch.  ii.]  THE  RELIGION  OF  THE  LAW  35 

against  such  an  order.1  For  sin  is  essentially  self-will,  or, 
in  the  words  of  1  John  iii.  4,  '  lawlessness.' 

Paul  develops  the  account  of  his  experience  in  the  famous 
passage  which  may  be  summed  up  in  the  words  :  '  Not  the 
good  which  I  desire  do  I  achieve,  but  the  evil  which  I 
do  not  desire,  this  I  do.'  2  The  idea  has  found  abundant 
expression  in  ancient  literature.  The  words  of  Ovid  are 
familiar  :  '  I  see  the  higher  course  and  approve  it :  the 
lower  I  follow  '  (Metam.  vii.  20). 3  The  ground  which  the 
apostle  here  takes  up  reveals  the  nature  of  the  course  he 
had  endeavoured  to  follow.  Making  all  due  allowance  for 
the  Christian  standpoint  from  which  he  writes,  it  seems 
plain  that  he  had  approached  God  mainly  as  the  supreme 
Judge  of  human  action,  and  had  been  driven  to  recognise 
that  he  possessed  no  real  merit  on  which  he  could  count 
when  face  to  face  with  the  Divine  Presence.  Sin  was  too 
subtle  and  too  strong  for  him.  The  very  order  which 
reminded  him  of  God  acted  as  an  instigation  to  transgress. 
This  was  his  personal  experience  and  the  experience,  no 
doubt,  of  many.  That  it  was  by  no  means  universal  is 
evident  from  such  outpourings  of  thankfulness  for  the 
Law  as  have  been  preserved  in  Psalm  cxix. 

Now  the  bitterness  of  his  position  was  enhanced  for 
Paul  by  the  consciousness  of  those  higher  desires  which 
protest  against  sin.  'I  assent,'  he  says,  '  to  the  law  of 
God  according  to  my  inward  man,  but  I  see  another  law 
in  my  members  opposing  the  law  of  my  mind.'  4  Here  we 
get  a  glimpse  of  Paul's  idea  of  the  constitution  of  human 
nature,  which  it  is  worth  while  examining  in  view  of  its 
bearing  upon  his  whole  conception  of  the  Christian  life. 

(d)  Human  Nature 
As  has  been  already  indicated,  the  basis  of  Paul's  inter- 

1  Rom.  vii.  7-11.  2  Rom.  vii.  19. 

s  An  extraordinarily  apt  parallel  to  Paul's  language  occurs  in  Epictetus, 
ii.  26.  1  :  irdv  ap.a.pTT)p.a  jxdxw  TrepUx€l-  ^7re'  7<*P  °  afxaprdvcji'  ov  d£\ei. 
a/j.apT&i'eiv.  dXXd  naTopd^aai,  brfkov  on  6  p.ev  dtXei  oi)  ttolcJ.  See  further 
parallels  in  Wetstein's  N.  T.,  ii.  p.  57.  It  is  doubtful  whether  such  parallels 
justifv  the  statement  that  Paul  is  here  using  Stoic  expressions, 

*  Rom.  vii.  22,  23. 


36  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  i. 

pretation  of  human  nature  lies  in  the  Old  Testament. 
There  the  primary  aspects  of  the  human  personality  are 
described  by  the  terms  'flesh'  (basar),  'soul'  (nephesh), 
'spirit'  {ruach),  and  'heart'  (leb).  The  most  notable 
feature  about  the  Old  Testament  use  of  the  term  '  flesh  ' 
for  our  discussion  is  that  it  often  occurs  with  a  psychical 
and  not  mere  physical  meaning.  That  becomes  almost 
ethical  in  the  group  of  passages  quoted  above,  which 
form  the  background  of  Paul's  usage.  But  how  far  the 
Old  Testament  is  removed  from  the  notion  of  the  '  flesh  ' 
as  inherently  evil  is  plain  from  such  passages  as  Job  iv. 
17-19  ;  xxv.  5,  6,  in  which  '  physical  frailty  is  used  to 
explain  or  to  exculpate  ethical  imperfection.' *  '  Heart '  has 
an  extraordinarily  wide  range  of  application,  not  only  pos- 
sessing its  physical  sense,  but  associated  with  the  activities 
of  feeling,  intellect,  and  will.  The  same  comprehensive 
use  of  it  (KapBia)  is  found  in  the  New  Testament,  and  is  as 
common  in  the  Gospels  as  in  Paul.  As  we  shall  see,  how- 
ever, the  term  '  mind  '  (vofs),  which  occurs  several  times 
in  the  LXX  as  the  rendering  of  leb,  encroaches  upon  the 
sphere  of  the  '  heart '  in  the  thought  of  Paul.  '  Soul ' 
seems  usually  in  the  Old  Testament  to  denote  the  prin- 
ciple of  life  in  the  individual,  but  is  often  extended  to 
embrace  the  emotional  activities  in  particular,  and  some- 
times, as  might  be  expected,  is  almost  a  substitute  for  the 
personal  pronoun.  Paul  rarely  uses  ^x7/  except  in  this 
latter  sense,  following  the  LXX.  Three  or  four  times, 
also  in  accord  with  the  LXX,  he  employs  it  in  the  popular 
sense  of  '  heart '  or  '  mind.'  But  in  1  Cor.  xv.  45,  where  he 
quotes  the  LXX  rendering  of  Gen.  ii.  7,  crs  v^X'/1'  (  PDJ?  ) 
foxrav,  he  deliberately  contrasts  '/'I'X7!  with  7rt«r/ia,  and  it 
becomes  clear  that  in  his  view  ^i'X7?*  'soul '  stands  for  the 
life  of  man  as  untouched  by  the  spirit  of  God  (rrev/ua), 
which  he  regards  as  God's  special  gift  to  the  Christian 
believer.  While  the  noun  is  comparatively  rare  in  Paul's 
Letters,  the  adjective  formed  from  it.  meaning  literally 
'soulish'     (i^i'vkus),   and     translated     'natural'    in     the 

'    Kobin-on,  op.  cit.,  p.  25. 


ch.  n.]  THE  RELIGION  OF  THE  LAW  37 

Authorised  Version,  takes  an  important  place.  Some 
scholars  hold  that  Paul  was  influenced  in  his  use  of  this 
term  by  contemporary  Hellenistic  religion.  The  evidence 
is  altogether  inadequate.  But  it  is  worthy  of  observa- 
tion that  the  adjective  is  used  by  the  Jewish  author  of 
4  Maccabees,  who  is  certainly  steeped  in  the  current 
popular  philosophy,  not  in  Paul's  sense  of  the  '  unspiritual ' 
as  opposed  to  the  '  spiritual,'  but  in  that  of  '  belonging  to 
the  soul '  as  opposed  to  '  belonging  to  the  body  '  (4  Maccab. 
i.  32  :    tu>v  8e  eTTidvfxitov  at  fxev  tianv  \{/v\iKai,  at  8(  ffw/xan/cai), 

Philo,  in  accordance  with  his  uses  of  ^v\rjt  emploj^s  the 
adjective  in  all  sorts  of  connections.  In  a  few  cases  it 
applies  to  the  ordinary  inner  life  of  man,  whether  viewed 
as  physical  or  as  the  sphere  of  feeling  and  other  forms  of 
consciousness.  More  often  it  occurs  in  the  higher  sense  of 
'  spiritual,'  which  is  totally  ah  en  to  Paul. 

Like  nephesh,  ruach  meant  in  certain  phases  of  its 
development  the  '  breath-soul,'  but  in  its  earliest  usage  it 
signified  (a)  the  wind,  (b)  the  stormier  energies  of  human 
life,  (c)  the  influence  from  God  which  brought  about 
abnormal  or  '  demonic '  conditions  in  men.  Probably 
owing  to  this  latter  use,  it  came  to  connote  a  higher  side  of 
the  inner  life  than  nephesh,  closely  associated  with  the 
ruach  of  God  Himself.  Hence  Paul  uses  '  spirit '  (7rv€v/m), 
the  word  by  which  it  is  commonly  rendered  in  the  LXX, 
for  the  Divine  life  kindled  in  man  as  well  as  for  the  Divine 
Spirit  which  has  kindled  it,  phenomena  which  must  be 
discussed  at  length  in  a  later  section.  Occasionally,  how- 
ever, following  what  we  have  seen  to  be  an  Old  Testament 
usage,  he  employs  '  spirit '  to  denote  the  inner  life  without 
special  reference  to  its  relation  to  God.1  But  the  passage 
which  formed  the  starting-point  of  our  present  discussion 
discloses  further  elements  in  his  conception  of  the  con- 
stitution of  human  nature.  There  2  he  uses  the  expressions 
'  the  inner  man  '  and  the  '  mind '  (vovs)  to  describe  that 
part  of  the  human  consciousness,  primarily  his  own,  which 

1  See  esp.  Robinson,  op.  cit.,  pp.  18  f.,  26  f. 

2  Rom.  vii.  22.  23.     Cf.  the  vise  of  vous  in  the  same  sense  in  verse  25. 


38  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft.  i. 

has  an  affinity  with  the  will  of  God,  which  affords  a  point 
of  contact,  so  to  speak,  with  Divine  influences.  This 
confirms  what  was  said  above  as  to  the  error  of  calling  Paul 
a  pessimist  in  regard  to  human  nature.  It  is  of  interest  to 
note  that  Plato  uses  a  phrase  almost  identical  with  that  of 
Paul,  '  the  man  within,' 1  in  distinguishing  the  power  of  the 
rational  consciousness  from  the  lower  capacities  of  the 
soul,  and  the  conception  passed  into  Neoplatonism.  But 
here,  as  in  the  case  of  the  cognate  term  in  Paul,  the  '  mind  ' 
(vovs),  we  must  be  careful  not  to  read  into  them  the  content 
which  they  hold  in  Greek  philosophy.  At  the  same  time, 
it  is  quite  possible  that  in  selecting  these  words  to  describe 
the  power  of  rational  (and  moral)  discernment  belonging 
to  human  nature,  a  carefully  defined  aspect  of  the  inner 
activity  of  man,  Paul  was  more  or  less  directly  influenced 
by  the  popular  thought  of  his  day.2  This  is  certainly  true 
as  regards  his  use  of  the  term  'conscience'  (o-wcto'no-is), 
which  ethical  Greek  philosophy  took  over  from  the  popular 
consciousness  and  which  passed  into  the  current  ethical 
terminology  of  that  epoch.3  This  precise  word  is  found 
rather  in  popular  writers  than  in  philosophers,  who  pre- 
ferred to  use  the  corresponding  verb.  Probably  Paul's 
use  of  it 4  is  practically  identical  with  that  current  among 
ourselves — the  mora)  judgment  which  accompanies  or 
follows  an  action,  as  also  the  source  of  such  judgment.  As 
Bonhoffer  has  instructively  pointed  out,  the  specifically 
Jewish  and  Christian  use  of  the  term  was  differentiated 
from  contemporary  philosophical  usage  by  the  fact  that  the 
latter  did  not  acknowledge  '  a  personal  God  towards  whom 
man  recognises  his  responsibility.'  5 

1  6  ivros  dvOpwrros  (Repub.  ix.  689a).  Paul's  expression  is  6  Peru) 
6.v6f>u}-rros.  His  use  of  the  same  phrase  in  2  Cor.  iv.  16  seems  to  have  the 
more  general  sense  of  the  '  spiritual '  as  contrasted  with  the  '  physical '  life. 

2  Cf.  his  emphasis  on  the  intellectual  element  in  vof-y  in  Rom.  i.  20,  where 
the  verh  voetv  describes  the  process  by  which  the  nature  of  God  may  be 
<  oiupiohended.  But  Paul  recognises  that  this  faculty  may  be  degraded 
by  misuse  (Kom.  i.  28,  Eph.  iv.  17)  as  well  as  raised  to  a  higher  level 
(Horn.  xii.  2,  Eph.  iv.  23).  Philo  uses  vovt  with  a  wide  range  of  signifi- 
cance.    Bee  Hatch,  >p.  tit.,  p.  125. 

3  Bee  an  Instructive  note  on  the  history  of  the  term  in  Norden's  Agnostot 
ThtOt,  p.   188,  n.   I.  *  E.y.  Rom.  ii.  15;    1  Cor.  viii.  7,  x.  25,  etc. 

•  Epiktut  u.  d.  Xeue  Testament,  p.  157. 


ch.  n.]  THE  RELIGION  OF  THE  LAW  39 

(e)  Origin  of  Sin 

In  spite  of  the  promptings  of  a  better  judgment,  Paul, 
in  his  pre-Christian  condition,  was  conscious  of  being 
mastered  by  the  tyranny  of  sin.  Sin  had  rendered  the 
moral  order  exhibited  in  the  Law  ineffectual  for  enabling 
men  to  reach  a  right  relation  with  God.  The  question 
naturally  arises  :  How  did  Paul  account  for  sin  ?  And  it 
is  easier  to  ask  the  question  than  to  answer  it.  We  have 
seen  that  while,  as  a  fact  of  experience,  he  definitely  associ- 
ates sin  with  the  '  flesh,'  i.e.  human  nature  in  its  existing 
constitution,  there  is  nothing  to  suggest  that  in  his  view  the 
'  flesh  '  is  inherently  evil.  Indeed,  for  Paul  as  a  Jew,  the 
bodily  organism  was  the  direct  creation  of  God.  On  the 
basis  of  Gen.  i.  27  he  regards  man  as  '  the  image  and  glory 
of  God.'  *  A  factor  has  intruded  to  work  disaster,  to 
destroy  the  relation  of  harmony  between  man  and  his 
Creator.  And  the  supreme  evidence  of  this  is  death.  Now 
the  remarkable  thing  is  that  Paul  repeatedly  emphasises  the 
connection  between  death  and  sin,2  which  was  a  familiar 
Jewish  tenet,  while  apparently  hesitating  to  speculate  on 
the  background  of  sin  itself.  In  several  passages,  however, 
he  plainly  connects  the  entrance  of  sin  into  the  world  with 
Adam.3  And,  although  no  explicit  statements  are  to  be 
found  on  the  subject,  it  is  hard  to  resist  the  inference  that 
theoretically  Paul  believed  that  in  virtue  of  the  solidarity 
of  the  race  all  sinned  in  Adam,  and  so  shared  in  his  penalty 
of  death.4  A  similar  conception  is  found  in  4  Ezra  vii.  118, 
a  document  belonging  to  the  same  century  as  Paul.  But 
there  the  explanation  is  given  that  Adam,  yielding  to  the 
'  evil  impulse,'  '  clothed  himself  with  the  evil  heart,'  5  and 
this  evil  heart  appeared  in  his  descendants.  Apparently 
the  '  evil  impulse '  was  by  many  Rabbinic  authorities 
identified  with  certain  passions  belonging  to  man  as  created 

1  1  Cor.  xi.  7.  *  E.g.  Rom.  v.  12,  17. 

3  Rom.  v.  12,  15,  18,  19  ;    1  Cor.  xv.  21,  22. 

'  So  also  Prof.  R.  Mackintosh,  Christianity  and  Sin,  pp.  80,  81. 
»  4  Ezra  iii.  21. 


40  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft.  i. 

which  only  became  evil  by  his  improper  use  of  them.1 
It  is  possible  that  Paul  also  held  the  doctrine  of  the  '  evil 
impulse,'  and  that  it  is  represented  by  the  '  other  law '  of 
Rom.  vii.  23.  In  any  case  both  he  and  4  Ezra  are  quite 
clear  as  to  the  responsibility  of  the  individual  for  his  own 
transgressions.2  Thus  the  two  conceptions  stand  side  by 
side.  Man  has  a  hereditary  bias  to  sin,  but  he  is  responsible 
for  allowing  that  bias  to  overmaster  him. 

One  passage  occurs  in  which  Paul  refers  to  the  deception 
of  Eve  by  the  serpent.3  Before  Paul's  time  the  serpent 
had  been  identified  with  Satan.  We  know  how  here  and 
there  the  apostle  reveals  his  consciousness  of  a  dark  world 
of  evil  powers  which  beset  human  life  and  have  the  present 
order  under  their  sway,  powers  which  will  be  abolished 
before  the  final  consummation.4  They  are  led  by  '  the 
ruler  of  the  power  of  the  air,  the  spirit  at  present  working 
in  the  sons  of  disobedience.'  5  To  this  hierarchy  of 
wickedness  Paul  assigns  the  gods  of  the  heathen,  who  are 
not  gods  but  '  demons.'  6  Perhaps  behind  Adam's  lapse 
from  the  Divine  image  he  recognises  the  influence  of  those 
fallen  spirits  or  their  leader,  who,  in  Jewish  tradition,  had 
rebelled  against  the  Divine  authority. 

After  all,  the  apostle  is  chiefly  concerned  with  sin  as  an 
empirical  fact.  Theories  of  the  origin  of  evil  are  secondary 
for  him,  and  belong  to  his  Jewish  heritage.  Hence  it  is  not 
surprising  that  we  have  no  clear  data  for  connecting  his 
idea  of  mankind  as  sinning  in  Adam  with  his  doctrine  of 
the  '  flesh  '  as  sinful.  Indeed,  it  is  conceivable,  as  Prof.  R. 
Mackintosh  suggests,7  that  Paul  came  to  formulate  his 
idea  in  this  fashion  as  the  result  of  his  transforming 
experience,  in  which  the  power  of  the  Spirit  vanquished 
his  evil  desires,  using  the  Old  Testament  term  flesh  '  for 
that  earlier  condition  of  helplessness  on  which  he  could 
now  look  back  as  a  condition  for  ever  left  behind. 

1  See  Schoehter,  Some  Aspects  oj  Rabbinic  Theology,  j».  267. 

2  Bee  Box's  ed.  oJ   I  Ei  ra,  p.  xlii. 

3  -'  ('<>r.  xi.  :j,  in  which  refi  r»  a* ■•   a  m  i.  i«i.  4,  13. 
6    1  Cor.  xv.  24,  ii.  6;    Col.  ii.    I.'.;     Eph.  vi.    12. 

•   Eph.  u.  2.  •   1  Cor.  x.  20  f.  7  ExpOlitOT,  May  IU13,  p.  454. 


ch.  ii.]  THE  RELIGION  OF  THE  LAW  41 

(/)  The  Significance  of  the  Law 

If  sin,  then,  makes  conformity  to  the  Law  a  futile  effort, 
what  is  to  be  said  of  the  Law  itself  ?  What  does  it  mean  ? 
What  is  its  value  ?  Why  is  it  there  ?  Paul's  precise  esti- 
mate of  the  Law  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  formulate,  not 
owing  to  the  lack  of  material,  but  because  his  theory  and 
his  experience  have  often  come  into  collision,  and  because 
his  attitude  has  been  powerfully  affected  by  his  relations  as 
a  Christian  missionary  with  Jews  and  Judaising  Christians. 
So  that  his  utterances  regarding  the  significance  which  the 
Law  possessed  for  him  in  his  pre-Christian  days  can  at  no 
point  be  dissociated  from  the  position  which  he  had 
reached  through  his  profound  fellowship  with  Christ. 
For  this  reason  we  shall  not  attempt  to  divide  our  dis- 
cussion of  his  attitude  into  clearly  marked  stages,  although 
it  may  be  possible  to  indicate  more  or  less  generally  a 
certain  process  of  development  in  his  ideas. 

Paul's  religious  life  as  a  Pharisee  under  the  Law  had 
failed  to  give  him  peace  with  God,  primarily  because  he  saw 
no  prospect  of  winning  God's  favour  on  legal  lines.  Now 
it  is  true  that  there  was  room  in  Judaism  for  more  than  the 
contract-idea  of  religion.  The  very  possession  of  the  Law 
was  regarded  as  a  gift  of  the  Divine  grace.  All  its  institu- 
tions symbolised  the  favour  of  the  Most  High  to  His  chosen 
people.  The  writer  of  Psalm  cxix.,  whose  reverence  for 
the  Law  is  so  boundless,  can  count  on  the  tenderness  and 
loving-kindness  of  the  Lord  (w.  77,  149).  And  throughout 
the  history  of  Judaism  there  were  those  who,  regarding  the 
Law  as  the  revelation  of  the  will  of  God,  and  alive  to  the 
spirit  rather  than  the  letter,  cast  themselves  on  the  Divine 
mercy  for  help  to  be  loyal  to  its  claims.  But  the  evidence 
of  the  Gospels,  and  especially  the  criticisms  pronounced  by 
Jesus  Himself,  testify  unmistakably  that  the  legalism  of  the 
Pharisees  at  that  epoch  was  in  the  main  a  religion,  not  of 
freedom,  but  of  bondage.  And  if  Christian  documents 
should  be  charged  with  prejudice,  there  is  ample  proof  in 
the  Rabbinic  writings  themselves  that  childlike  trust  in 


42  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  (>t.  i 

the  Divine  grace  and  the  abiding  assurance  of  the  Divine 
love  were  overshadowed  by  a  tormenting  anxiety  to  obey 
the  letter  of  the  Law  and  so  be  able  to  stand  before  the 
Judge  in  the  awful  day  of  reckoning.  Plainly  this  was  the 
atmosphere  in  which  Paul's  earlier  life  was  spent.  His 
pre-Christian  endeavours  are  reflected  in  the  quotation 
from  Psalm  cxliii.  2,  which  he  expands  from  his  Christian 
standpoint  :  '  By  the  works  of  the  Law  "  no  flesh  shall  be 
justified."  '  The  words  are  echoed  all  through  his  Epistles. 
They  describe  not  theory  but  experience,  even  although  the 
apostle  may  have  deduced  a  theory  from  them. 

Yet  it  need  scarcely  be  said  that  Paul  did  not  start  from 
this  position.  The  Pentateuch  he  regarded  as  divinely 
inspired  from  beginning  to  end.  There  is  no  evidence  that 
he  drew  any  distinction  between  the  ritual  and  moral 
elements  of  the  Law.  All  was  a  revelation  from  God. 
And,  in  a  sense,  he  continues  as  a  Christian  to  hold  this 
view.  In  the  paragraph  of  autobiography  which  has 
occupied  us  so  often  already,  after  showing  that  the  very 
existence  and  challenge  of  the  Law  provoked  him  to  sin, 
he  deliberately  declares  :  '  The  law  is  holy,  and  the  com- 
mandment holy  and  righteous  and  good  '  ;  and  again  : 
'  We  know  that  the  law  is  spiritual.'  *  These  epithets 
emphasise  the  intimate  connection  of  the  Law  with  God. 
Now  before  his  conversion,  one  of  his  most  tormenting 
problems  must  have  been  to  account  for  the  inability  of 
this  divinely  appointed  scheme  of  things,  as  he  regarded  it, 
to  achieve  its  proper  function  of  enabling  men  to  become 
righteous.  The  theory  he  found  in  the  Law  itself :  '  He 
that  performeth  these  things  shall  live  by  them.'  2  Life, 
which  was  a  description  of  the  sum-total  of  God's  best  gifts 
in  the  Old  Testament,  awaited  the  man  who  satisfied  this 
high  claim.  Death,  the  loss  of  all  that  made  existence 
worth  having,  was  the  penalty  of  him  who  failed.  And 
Paul,  with  his  abhorrence  of  compromises,  with  his  demand 
for  truth,  with  his  unflinching  self-knowledge,  felt  com- 
pelled to  rank  himself  with  the  failures.     Probably,  even  at 

1    Kolu.  vii.  12,  14.  *  Lev.  xviii.  5  (qu.  in  Ga>.  iii     '  -' 


ch.  n.]  THE  RELIGION  OF  THE  LAW  43 

that  time,  he  was  conscious  that  his  life  in  a  body  of  flesh 
and  blood,  a  life  exposed  to  the  influence  of  sense  in  all  its 
seductive  power,  was  somehow  responsible  for  his  failure. 
There  is  the  ring  of  the  old  despair  in  the  words  :  '  Wretched 
man  that  I  am  !  who  shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this 
death  ?  **  They  sound  true  to  the  original  situation.  What 
he  then  discerned  as  a  fact,  he  wove  later  into  a  theory 
of  the  function  of  the  Law.  Already,  as  a  Pharisee,  he  had 
discovered  the  horror  of  sin.  When  as  a  Christian  thinker 
he  began  to  reflect  on  the  Law  in  the  light  of  that  discovery, 
he  concluded  that  one  purpose  at  least  of  its  promulgation 
was  to  reveal  sin  in  its  true  colours,  to  make  sin  as  loath- 
some as  possible  to  the  man  who  was  guilty  of  it.2 

But  if  its  task  stopped  there,  the  situation  would  be  worse 
than  ever.  What  advantage  is  it  for  a  man  to  realise  the 
awfulness  of  his  sin,  if  he  sees  no  means  of  escaping  from  it  ? 
Possibly  Paul  had  almost  been  driven  to  that  position.  It 
appears  in  4  Ezra,  which  at  so  many  points  reveals  affinities 
with  the  apostle  :  '  The  evil  heart  has  grown  up  in  us  which 
has  estranged  us  from  God,  and  brought  us  into  destruction, 
and  has  made  known  to  us  the  ways  of  death,  and  removed 
us  far  from  life  ;  and  that  not  a  few  only,  but  well  nigh  all 
that  have  been  created.'  3  When,  in  view  of  his  Christian 
experience,  Paul  asked  himself,  '  Of  what  value  was  this 
revelation  of  the  essential  meaning  of  sin  through  the 
Law,'  the  remarkable  answer  is  given  :  '  It  was  intended  to 
prepare  men  for  the  new  disclosure  of  grace  and  love  and 
power  in  Jesus  Christ.'  There  is  no  more  remarkable 
flash  of  insight  in  the  Epistles  than  Paul's  statement  in 
Gal.  iii.  24  :  '  The  law  has  been  the  slave  in  charge  of  us 
(TrcuSaywyos)  4  with  a  view  to  Christ,  that  we  might  be 
justified  by  faith.  And  now  that  faith  has  arrived,  we  are 
no  longer  under  the  slave.'  He  has  come  to  estimate  the 
Law  no  more  as  an  end  in  itself,  but  as  a  preparatory 
discipline  for  the  individual,  making  him  fully  aware  of 

1  Rom.  vii.  24.  2  Rom.  vii.  13;    Gal.  iii.  19.  a  vii.  48. 

•  The  paedarjoqus  was  a  slave  of  the  household  entrusted  with  the 
supervision  and  discipline  of  the  child  until  he  reached  his  majority.  By 
far  the  most  vivid  picture  of  his  functions  is  found  in  Plato,  Lysis,  208  e. 


44  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  i. 

his  own  helplessness  in  the  presence  of  sin,  and  compelling 
him  to  look  for  aid  to  One  who  is  the  medium  of  the  very 
might  of  God. 

But  Paul  carries  this  conception  a  stage  further.  He 
has  evidently  wrestled  hard  with  the  problem  of  the  Law. 
That  need  not  surprise  us,  for  it  met  him  continually  in  the 
course  of  his  missionary  labours.  We  usually  allow  his 
work  among  heathens  to  overshadow  all  else  in  his  career. 
And  we  know  from  Gal.  ii.  9  that  he  regarded  that  as  his 
principal  obligation.  But  apart  from  the  varied  evidence 
of  the  Epistles,  which  so  constantly  address  themselves 
to  the  Jewish  consciousness,  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt 
the  report  in  Acts  that  he  was  accustomed  to  make  the 
synagogue  the  starting-point  of  his  operations.  It  has 
been  supposed  by  some  scholars  that  Paul  could  not  have 
criticised  the  Law  before  Jewish  audiences  in  the  earlier 
period  of  his  career.1  To  us  it  is  inconceivable  that  a  man 
who,  like  Paul,  was  conscious  of  having  passed  out  of  a 
condition  of  bondage  into  one  of  joyous  freedom,  could 
avoid  the  discussion  of  so  momentous  an  element  in  the 
situation,  when  urging  upon  his  fellow -countrym en  the 
claims  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  further  evolution  in  his  con- 
ception seems  indeed  to  have  grown  out  of  this  environ- 
ment. The  Law,  Paul  declares,  is  not  merely  a  preparatory 
discipline,  but  a  temporary  phase  in  the  religious  history  of 
Israel.2  Here  the  apostle  takes  up  a  bold  position.  With 
remarkable  insight  he  discovers  in  the  Old  Testament  itself 
a  foreshadowing  of  that  attitude  towards  God  which  has 
been  fully  realised  through  Christ.  It  finds  illustration  in 
the  life  of  the  patriarch  Abraham,  a  classical  name  for 
Hebrew  religion.  He  is  not  oppressed  by  legal  sanctions. 
He  is  content  to  cast  himself  simply  upon  the  gracious 
promise  of  God  ((Jul.  iii.  16-18).  Paul  dwells  upon  this 
with  enthusiasm.  Promise  and  Law  arc,  in  a  Bense, 
incompatible.  Legalism  works  with  the  conception  of  a 
contract    between    two    parties.     The   religion   of   promise 

1    Bo   •).    Wr,    -.   .,,,.   ,,(..    [,.    10!). 

Note  id.-  expre    ion  in  Ron*,  v.  20  i    '  The  lira  o  un«  in  (M 


ch.  II.]  THE  RELIGION  OF  THE  LAW  45 

represents  the  unmerited  grace  of  God  (Gal.  iii.  18-20). 
Thus  the  apostle  by  the  sheer  force  of  his  spiritual  sensi- 
bility anticipates  the  discovery  of  modern  investigation 
that  legalism  was  not  the  essential  foundation  of  Old 
Testament  religion,  but  rather  a  phase  of  its  development. 

It  may  be  frankly  admitted  that  certain  features  in 
Paul's  estimate  of  the  Law  emerge  as  the  result  of  keen 
controversy  with  those  Judaising  Christians  who  insisted 
that  strict  conformity  to  its  provisions  was  compulsory  for 
all  who  would  be  boTia-fide  members  of  the  Christian  com- 
munity. Here  he  meets  them  on  their  own  ground, 
availing  himself  of  Rabbinic  traditions  and  exegesis  to  press 
home  the  secondary  character  of  the  legal  dispensation. 
Thus,  in  Gal.  iii.  19,  he  speaks  of  the  Law  as  '  transmitted 
by  angels  '  in  contrast  with  the  promise  which  was  '  freely 
given  by  God  '  (ver.  18).  The  words  seem  to  have  in  view 
a  Jewish  tradition,  found,  also  in  Acts  vii.  53,  Heb.  ii.  2, 
the  LXX  text  of  Deut.  xxxiii.  2,  and  Josephus,  Antiq.  xv. 
136  (ed.  Niese),  that  the  angels  were  concerned  in  the 
communication  of  the  Law  to  Israel.1  Obviously  the 
tradition  was  intended  to  enhance  the  glory  of  the  scene 
at  Sinai.  Paul  boldly  inverts  its  significance  for  the  sake 
of  emphasising  the  inferiority  of  the  legal  dispensation, 
and  he  is  followed  in  this  interpretation  by  the  writer  to  the 
Hebrews. 

The  climax  of  this  critical  estimate  of  the  Law  appears 
in  his  latest  writings.  His  ripening  experience  of  all  that 
is  involved  in  Christ  and  Christ's  salvation  detaches  him 
more  and  more  completely  from  his  original  standpoint. 
As  he  reflects  on  the  manifold  bearings  of  the  new  relation- 
ship to  God,  which  is  a  constant  wonder  to  his  soul,  what- 
ever savours  of  legalism  becomes  utterly  irksome  to  him. 
The  only  law  he  feels  at  liberty  to  recognise  is  the  law  of 
Christ,  which  is  love  in  its  widest  sense.  When,  there- 
fore, from  his  new  point  of  vantage,  which  commands 
ever-widening  horizons,  he  looks  back  on  that  condition 
of  painful  servitude  under  which  his  spirit  had  chafed,  he 

1  See  Dibelius,  Die  Geistertvelt  im  Qlauben  d,  Pavlus,  pp.  26-28. 


46  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  i. 

seems  to  lose  sight  of  any  Divine  purpose  in  that  phase  of 
the  old  order,  and  simply  exults  over  its  abolishment  by 
Christ.  The  Law  now  appears  to  him  as  a  positive  barrier 
between  the  soul  and  God,  which  has  had  to  be  torn  down. 
'  He  cancelled  the  regulations  that  stood  against  us — all 
these  obligations  he  set  aside  when  he  nailed  them  to  the 
cross,  when  he  cut  away  the  angelic  rulers  and  powers 
from  us,  exposing  them  to  all  the  world  and  triumphing 
over  them  in  the  cross.'  *  Here  it  appears  as  if  the  '  angels ' 
whom  he  had  introduced  in  Gal.  iii.  19  as  symbols  of  the 
inferiority  of  the  legal  dispensation,  are  identified  with  the 
realm  of  evil  spiritual  forces  which  dominate  the  present 
age.  A  foreshadowing  of  such  identification  is  found  in 
Gal.  iv.  3,  8-10,  where  the  sway  of  legalism  over  the  Jews 
is  set  in  parallel  with  that  of  '  elemental  spirits '  (o-roix«ia) 
over  heathen.  And  he  returns  to  this  parallel  in  the 
paragraph  immediately  following  the  important  passage 
from  Colossians  quoted  above,  thus  indicating  that  it 
belonged  to  the  permanent  background  of  his  reflection 
upon  the  significance  of  the  Law.2 

At  this  point  we  are  confronted  with  a  fact  which  has 
often  been  ignored.  Warneck  has  most  suggestively 
pointed  out  the  essential  legalism  of  heathen  religions, 
and  goes  the  length  of  saying  that  there  is  no  graver  peril 
in  immature  mission-communities  than  the  desire  to  win 
God's  favour  by  the  performance  of  good  deeds.3  Hence, 
in  guarding  his  newly  won  converts  from  the  obligations 
of  the  Law,  he  was  not  merely  concerned  that  they  should  be 
saved  from  a  false  conception  of  Christianity,  but  he  was 
thoroughly  alive  to  the  fact  that  there  was  deeply  rooted 
in  their  natures  the  very  tendency  to  make  religion  a  thing 
of  rules  and  forms  which  he  felt  to  be  the  paralysis  of 
Judaism.  So  that  the  emphasis  which  he  lays  on  the 
freedom  of  the  spirit  in  relation  to  God  has  a  direct  bearing 
on  the  mental  drift  of  heathen -Christians  as  well  as  on  the 

1  Col.  n.  14,  ir>  (M.). 

a  Col.  ii.   20-23.     Cf.    Eph.   ii.   15,  where  the  Law  is  represented  as  the 
ba^iH  of  that  enmity  which  kept  Jew  and  Gentile  apart. 
•  Paulus  tm  Lvhta  d.  heutttjen  Heidenmitision,  pp.  301-311. 


ch.  n.]  THE  RELIGION  OF  THE  LAW  47 

hereditary  religious  training  of  Jews.  For  both  alike, 
Christ  is  the  '  end  '  of  the  Law  to  every  one  who  believes 
(Rom.  x.  4). 


(g)  PauVs  Relation  to  the  Sect  of  the  Nazarenes 

The  sketch  which  has  been  given  of  Paul's  estimate  of 
the  Law  casts  a  flood  of  light  on  his  pre-Christian  position. 
Allowing  for  all  those  elements  in  it  which  have  been 
elaborated  in  the  course  of  keen  controversies  with 
opponents,  and  their  adaptation  to  the  needs  of  heathen 
converts,  no  one  can  be  blind  to  the  ineffaceable  mark 
which  his  mental  confusion  and  dispeace  under  the  Law 
had  left  upon  his  spiritual  nature.  As  we  have  seen,  his 
tormenting  doubts  of  his  own  position  urged  him  on  to 
ruthless  persecution  of  the  sect  who  worshipped  the 
crucified  Jesus  as  the  Messiah  of  God.  3ut  his  contact 
with  Christian  disciples  must  have  had  real  significance 
for  the  direction  of  his  thought.  It  is  true  that  his  hatred 
would  blind  him  to  much  that  he  might  have  learned 
regarding  Jesus  and  His  claims.  But  it  is  impossible  to 
suppose  that  a  man  of  his  penetration  of  mind  and  earnest- 
ness of  purpose  should  remain  ignorant  of  the  fundamental 
positions  which  were  being  taken  up  by  the  disciples  of 
Christ  in  Jerusalem.  The  chief  of  these  was  the  Messiah- 
ship  of  the  crucified  Jesus,  who,  His  followers  with  one 
accord  alleged,  had  been  raised  from  the  dead,  and  had 
manifested  Himself  to  many  of  them.  Paul  would  at  least 
hear  the  common  report  of  Jesus'  career.  He  would  be 
aware  of  the  impression  which  this  Teacher  had  made  upon 
men  and  women  who  still  retained  their  connection  with 
the  Temple-worship  and  the  Law.  He  must  necessarily 
have  inquired  into  some  of  the  reasons  for  such  an  impres- 
sion. But  we  can  go  further.  The  book  of  Acts  makes 
it  perfectly  clear  that  the  young  Rabbinic  scholar,  Paul, 
was  an  accomplice  in  the  murder  of  Stephen,  and  that 
that  event  was  the  starting-point  of  his  relentless  crusade 
against  the  sect  of  the  Nazarenep.     But  these  schemes  were 


48  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  i. 

not  the  impulse  of  a  moment.  An  interesting  note  pre- 
served in  Acts  (vi.  9)  reveals  as  their  background  a  hot 
religious  controversy  between  Stephen,  who  was  no  doubt 
a  Hellenist,  and  certain  of  his  Hellenistic  fellow-countrymen 
who  had  synagogues  of  their  own  at  Jerusalem.  Some  of 
his  opponents  are  described  as  Cilicians,  and  there  can  be 
little  doubt  that  Paul  was  one  of  them.  The  charge  they 
brought  against  the  Christian  leader  was  that  he  was 
constantly  speaking  against  the  Temple  and  the  Law. 
Probably  the  writer  of  Acts  is  justified  in  calling  this  charge 
false,  for  the  Christian  community  was  still  loyal  to  both 
these  institutions,  and  Stephen  could  not  have  occupied 
the  place  he  did  if  he  were  at  variance  with  his  fellow- 
disciples  on  so  vital  a  question.1  But  the  wording  of  the 
accusation,  '  We  have  heard  him  say  that  Jesus  the 
Nazarene  will  destroy  this  place  and  alter  the  customs 
handed  down  to  us  by  Moses/  suggests  that  Stephen  had 
grasped  the  inner  significance  of  the  teaching  of  Jesus,  and 
that  he  had  begun  to  show  the  same  antagonism  as  his  Master 
to  the  pedantries  of  formal  worship  and  observance  which 
played  so  important  a  part  in  the  Judaism  of  the  day. 
He  had  become  alive  to  the  hollo wness  of  much  that  passed 
muster  as  piety,  and  he  saw  plainly  that  it  was  Jesus' 
criticism  of  this  pseudo -obedience  which  had  sent  Him  to 
the  cross.  Now  the  controversy  between  Stephen  and  his 
fellow-Hellenists  must  have  turned  upon  such  matters. 
In  the  course  of  it,  Paul  would  inevitably  be  brought  face 
to  face  with  positions  taken  up  by  Jesus.  And  the  very 
fact  that  the  meaning  of  the  Law  was  involved  would 
kindle  his  interest  with  a  unique  intensity.  We  have  no 
data  from  which  even  to  surmise  the  point  of  view  adopted 
by  Stephen,  for  the  main  drift  of  his  speech  before  the 
Sanhedrim,  as  reported  in  Acts,  is  concerned  with  Moses 
as  pointing  forward  to  Christ.  But  if  we  recollect  that 
Paul  was  in  the  throes  of  a  spiritual  struggle  which  chiefly 
arose  from  his  consciousness  of  the  inadequacy  of  legalism, 
and  then  realise  that  there  was  presented  to  him  a  new 

1  See  Feine,  Theolugie  d.  N.  T.,  p.  228 


ch.  u.]  THE  RELIGION  OF  THE  LAW  49 

estimate  of  the  Law  as  adumbrated  by  Jesus,  we  can 
picture  a  further  undermining  of  the  very  bulwarks  of  his 
religious  position,  and,  alongside  of  this,  a  passionate 
attempt  to  convince  his  own  mind,  in  spite  of  doubts  that 
could  not  be  laid,  by  plunging  into  a  course  which  asserted 
by  deeds  and  not  words  the  validity  of  his  inherited  beliefs. 
Johannes  Weiss  has  attempted  to  show  that  Paul,  in  all 
likelihood,  must  have  seen  Jesus  in  Jerusalem.1  There  is 
nothing  impossible  in  the  hypothesis,  although  it  is  most 
precarious  to  base  it  on  2  Cor.  v.  16,  of  which,  in  our 
judgment,  Weiss  gives  a  quite  erroneous  exegesis.  What 
he  is  concerned,  however,  to  prove  is  that  before  his 
conversion  Paul  had  a  clear  impression  of  the  historical 
Jesus,  both  as  regards  His  personal  characteristics  and 
His  remarkable  claims.  And  certainly  the  experience, 
whatever  in  it  may  elude  all  ordinary  investigation,  can 
be  more  readily  comprehended  on  this  hypothesis.  We 
know  what  horror  the  notion  of  a  crucified  Messiah  must 
have  struck  into  Paul's  mind.  We  know  that  the  attempt 
to  vindicate  such  a  position  must  have  seemed  to  him 
the  most  appalling  blasphemy,  and  urged  him  on  the  more 
furiously  in  his  persecuting  ardour.  Yet,  beside  this  cari- 
cature of  his  nation's  hope,  there  would  stand  the  figure 
of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  who  had  pitied  the  outcast  and 
welcomed  little  children.  He  had  indeed  pronounced 
solemn  woes  on  Pharisaic  formalism  and  hypocrisy,  and 
His  denunciations  went  to  the  heart  of  legalism.  But  He 
had  also  called  up  visions  of  a  new  spiritual  ideal,  whose 
fascination  at  least  it  would  be  hard  for  any  earnest  soul 
to  evade.  Nor  would  it  count  for  little  that  His  followers 
were  willing  to  face  shame  and  death  for  His  sake,  and  that 
in  their  sorest  trials  they  remained  true  to  that  spirit  and 
temper  which  they  had  learned  from  their  Lord.  Of  these 
things  Paul  must  have  been  a  frequent  witness.  Can  we 
doubt  that  his  confusion  deepened,  that  it  became  '  hard  for 
him  to  kick  against  the  goads  '  (Acts  xxvi.  14)  ? 

1  Paulua  u.  Jesus,  pp.  22-31. 


60  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  l 


CHAPTER  III 
st.  Paul's  conversion 

(a)  A  Revelation  of  Jesus  as  Risen 

The  story  of  Paul's  conversion  belongs  to  his  biography. 
What  concerns  us  here  is  its  significance  for  his  theology. 

When  the  zealous  Pharisee  embarked  on  his  crusade  of 
persecution,  his  feelings  were  shocked  by  the  mingled 
blasphemy  and  folly  of  the  disciples  of  Jesus  in  claiming 
that  their  crucified  Master  was  proved  to  be  the  Messiah 
by  His  resurrection  from  the  dead.  It  was  the  inevitable 
result  of  teaching  which  appeared  to  be  a  disparagement 
of  the  Pharisaic  position  and  a  disintegration  of  those 
beliefs  which  were  the  pride  of  national  tradition.  The 
claims  of  patriotism  demanded  that  such  deadly  heresy 
should  be  extirpated.  But  we  have  seen  that  the  champion 
of  legalism  at  this  critical  moment  was  far  from  being 
satisfied  with  his  own  religious  attainment.  A  conflict 
between  the  actual  and  the  ideal  raged  within  him,  which 
the  Law  seemed  powerless  to  allay.  He  knew  something  by 
hearsay  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  He  could  not  be  grouped 
with  those  revolutionary  pseudo-Messiahs  who  made  a 
momentary  sensation  in  times  of  political  ferment.  The 
echoes  of  His  teaching  which  had  come  to  Paul's  ears 
suggested  a  man  of  balanced  nature,  spiritual  enthusiasm, 
and  moral  sincerity.  And  the  aspect  of  His  followers  con- 
firmed the  report.  Their  only  fanaticism  was  mutual  love. 
There  was  no  sign  of  scheming  for  personal  aggrandisement. 
They  did  not  seem  to  lean  on  outward  force.  A  contagious 
gladness  possessed  them,  and  this  no  spasmodic  emotion, 
but  an  abiding  spirit  which  kept  them  calm  and  courageous 


ch.  in.]  ST.  PAUL'S  CONVERSION  51 

even  in  the  presence  of  death.  And  all  their  joy  and  hope 
they  attributed  to  the  grace  of  their  risen  Lord,  who  was 
exalted  to  Divine  power,  and  should  soon  return  to  perfect 
their  salvation  and  subdue  the  world  to  God. 

We  can  only  form  conjectures  as  to  the  condition  of 
thought  and  feeling  which  was  the  resultant  of  these 
conflicting  groups  of  forces.  Such  conjectures  are  as  likely 
to  be  erroneous  as  accurate.  Some  scholars  go  the  length 
of  imagining  that  Paul  the  Pharisee  had  reached  the  point 
of  asking  himself,  '  Have  these  Nazarenes  found  the  truth  ? 
Has  the  crucified  Jesus  indeed  manifested  Himself  to  them  ? 
Has  God  vindicated  His  claims  in  this  marvellous  fashion  ? ' 
All  that  may  reasonably  be  inferred  is  the  existence  of  a 
silent  preparation  in  the  soul  of  this  restless  seeker  after 
God.  To  attempt  to  define  its  psychological  stages,  as, 
e.g.,  Holsten  has  done,1  is  to  read  an  artificial  construction 
into  the  mysterious  processes  of  that  elusive  realm  which 
we  call  personality. 

The  apostle  himself  makes  no  reference  to  a  silent  pro- 
cess which  culminated  in  the  revelation  of  Christ  to  him  as 
risen  and  exalted.  For  him  the  crisis  was  altogether  sudden 
and  wonderful.  '  It  was  God,  who  said,  Light  shall  shine 
out  of  darkness,  that  shone  in  my  heart.'  2  That  is  to  say, 
what  remained  with  him  as  the  supreme  impression  was  the 
unexpected  transformation  of  his  religious  experience  by  the 
instrumentality  of  God.  It  is  of  little  value  to  discuss  the 
precise  nature  of  this  epoch-making  event.  To  us  it  seems 
futile  to  regard  it  as  the  mere  visionary  product  of  the 
highly  agitated  mental  condition  of  Paul  the  Pharisee. 
The  conditions  of  receptivity  were  of  course  present.  But 
the  vision  had  a  content  which  Paul  had  not  created.  There 
were  Divine  forces  at  work  for  one  of  the  crucial  ends  in  the 
history  of  God's  self -manifestation  to  men.  '  He  who  set 
me  apart  from  my  birth  and  called  me  through  his  grace 
was  pleased  to  reveal  his  Son  in  me  that  I  might  preach  him 


1  Das  Evangdium  d.  Paulus,  Teil  ir.,  1898. 

*  2  Cor.  iv.  6.     One  feels  sure  that  Dr.  Moffatt  is  right  in  translating 
^jj.Qiv  here  by  '  my.' 


52  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft.  I. 

among  the  heathen.'  1  It  is  noteworthy  that  Paul  never 
dwells  on  the  abnormal  aspect  of  the  event.  He  is  exclu- 
sively concerned  with  its  religious  significance  and  value. 
The  standpoint  from  which  he  views  it  is  made  perfectly 
clear  by  his  statement  in  1  Cor.  xv.  8  f .  The  subject  of  this 
chapter  is  the  reality  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ  as  an 
evidence  for  that  of  Christians.  After  mentioning  various 
manifestations  of  the  risen  Jesus  to  disciples,  he  concludes  : 
'  And  last  of  all  he  appeared  to  me  also,  the  untimely  born. 
For  I  am  the  least  of  the  apostles,  unworthy  even  of  the 
name  of  apostle,  because  I  persecuted  the  church  of  God, 
but  by  the  grace  of  God  I  am  what  I  am.'  That  is  in- 
variably the  note  of  his  experience,  the  Divine  condescen- 
sion and  mercy  to  one  who  had  no  claim  whatever  upon 
them.  What  moves  his  soul  is  the  loving  hand  stretched 
out  to  arrest  him  in  his  folly,  the  hand  of  Christ  by  which 
he  was  grasped.2 

In  this  crisis  Paul  passed  into  a  new  world.  All  his 
religious  values  were  changed.  '  What  things  were  gain 
to  me,  these  I  have  counted  loss  for  Christ.'  3  His  national 
prerogatives,  his  long  and  careful  training,  his  pride  as  an 
expert  in  the  Law,  his  reputation  as  a  Pharisee,  his  prospects 
as  a  leader  in  the  religious  life  of  his  people — everything 
was  sacrificed  on  the  altar  of  devotion  to  Christ.  Perhaps 
the  most  fundamental  aspect  of  the  transformation  is  that 
which  is  conditioned  by  the  apostle's  overpowering  con- 
viction of  the  Divine  grace,  referred  to  above.  Hence- 
forward God  is  not  primarily  the  Being  who  sets  up  a 
standard  which  must  be  conformed  to,  who  demands  an 
obedience  which  must  be  painfully  attained.  He  is  rather 
the  generous  Giver,  who  furnishes  the  trusting  soul  with  ail 
the  equipment  necessary  for  realising  its  highest  life.  The 
Divine  revelation  which  Paul  has  received  is  indeed  in  a 
real  sense  new  knowledge,  but,  to  a  still  greater  degree, 
new  power.  That  involves  a  fresh  moral  impetus,  which  is 
above  all  else  directed  by  the  dominating  impulse  of  love, 

1  Gal  i.  15,  16.  For  a  discussion  of  Pattl*8  vision  which  keeps  in  view 
nil  Its  aspects,  see  Olsobewski,  Die  Wurzeln  d.  puuiin.  Christolugie,  pp. 
...  JW.  -  "  Phil.  iii.  12.  ■  Phil.  hi.  7. 


ch.  in.]  ST.  PAUL'S  CONVERSION  53 

the  reflection  and  product  of  the  redeeming  love  of  God  in 
Christ. 

Before  we  examine  the  factors  emerging  from  Paul's 
conversion -experience  which  were  normative  for  his 
religious  thought,  let  us  endeavour  to  get  a  firm  grasp  of 
the  immediate  consequence  of  the  event  for  his  position. 
Plainly  he  became  convinced  that  Jesus  was  risen  and  living. 
The  extraordinary  vividness  of  his  conviction  is  evident 
from  the  casual  manner  in  which  he  is  able  to  introduce  it 
into  a  practical  discussion.  '  Have  not  I  seen  Jesus,  our 
Lord  ? '  he  says  to  the  Christian  community  at  Corinth,  in  a 
context  where  he  urges  them  to  practise  self-denial,  as  he, 
an  apostle,  has  invariably  done.1  His  language  is  note- 
worthy. It  is  Jesus  who  has  been  revealed  to  him.  The 
name  which  he  uses  illuminates  his  standpoint,  and  it  is 
significant  that  in  the  three  accounts  of  the  incident  in  Acts, 
Jesus,  and  not  Christ,  is  the  designation  employed.2  The 
fact  reminds  us  of  an  extremely  important  consideration. 
The  Being  with  whom  he  has  come  into  relation  is  no  mere 
abstraction.  There  could  scarcely  be  a  more  glaring 
misconception  than  that  of  Bousset :  '  The  Jesus  whom 
Paul  knows  is  the  pre-existent  supra-mundane  Christ.'  3 
There  is  no  evidence  to  show  that  Paul  had  already  in  his 
mind  the  clear-cut  conception  of  a  Heavenly  Man,  pre- 
served by  the  Divine  wisdom  to  be  revealed  at  the  proper 
time  for  the  performance  of  Messianic  functions.  There 
is  no  ground  for  supposing  that  with  this  apocalyptic  idea 
he  vaguely  associated  the  name  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  in 
whom,  as  a  historical  person,  he  had  no  genuine  interest.4 
Even  when  he  describes  the  Risen  One,  who  had  appeared 
to  him  as  Christ,  he  is  not  speaking  of  the  Messiah  in 
vacuo.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  he  constantly  uses  the  name 
'  Christ '  of  the  earthly  Jesus.5 

1    1  Cor.  ix.  1. 

8  We  do  not  leave  out  of  sight  the  fact  that  Paul  uses  '  Christ '  about 
twelve  times  as  often  as  *  Jesus.'  See  the  interesting  discussion  of  the 
'  Names  '  of  Christ  in  Paul's  Letters  in  Feine's  Jesus  Christus  u.  Paulus, 
pp.  21-45.  *  Kyrio8  Christos,  p.  144. 

4  So  Bruckner,  Die  Entstehung  d.  paulin.  Christolugie,  e.g.  pp.  30  ff.,  93  S. 

*  E.g.  Rom.  v.  6,  vii.  4  ;    2  Cor.  i.  5,  etc. 


54  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  i. 

Everything  really  turns  on  the  recognition  that  it  was 
Jesus,  against  whose  cause  he  had  plotted  and  acted,  who 
was  revealed  to  Paul.  Already  for  the  persecutor  He  was 
a  figure  warm  with  life.  Paul  was  acquainted  with  the 
main  features  of  His  character.  He  knew  something  of  the 
import  of  His  preaching.  He  was  fully  aware  of  the  extra- 
ordinary impression  of  their  Master  which  His  followers 
retained.  He  had  seen  how  their  lives  were  shaped  by 
contact  with  Him.  And  they  claimed  to  have  His  pres- 
ence abiding  with  them,  the  presence  of  the  risen  Lord. 
It  was  all  true.  He  had  overcome  death.  The  signifi- 
cance of  His  victory  was  overwhelming.  All  that  He  had 
taught  of  God  was  true.  For  God  had  vindicated  Him  in 
this  astounding  fashion.  His  attitude  towrards  legalism 
was  the  right  attitude.  His  conception  of  the  Kingdom 
of  God  was  alone  valid.  His  ideals  for  living  were  stamped 
with  Divine  authority.  He  was  the  promised  Messiah. 
This  was  in  some  ways  the  most  stupendous  fact  of  all. 
The  hope  around  which  the  most  eager  yearnings  of  the 
Pharisee  had  circled  was  virtually  realised.  The  new  era 
had  dawned.  Operations  of  God  were  in  motion  for  which 
the  centuries  had  been  waiting.  There  was  no  limit  to 
that  which  might  be  expected.  Christ  must  return  to 
complete  the  Divine  purpose,  but  the  purpose  was  as  good 
as  accomplished,  because  the  pledge  of  it  was  already  a 
reality.  Men  could  feel  the  stirring  of  the  Spirit  of  God 
in  their  hearts.  Their  disobedience  had  not  alienated  the 
Divine  love. 

The  supreme  obstacle  in  Paul's  mind  was  taken  out 
of  the  way.  A  suffering  Messiah  had  never  been  con- 
templated by  Jewish  religion.  From  first  to  last  his  career 
must  be  one  of  glory  and  triumph.  But  crucifixion  was 
more  than  Buffering.  It  meant  degradation  and  a  curse. 
We  cannot  tell  what  confusion  the  cross  of  Jesus  had 
wrought  in  the  soul  of  this  Pharisee,  as  Ik*  caughl  gleams 
of  illumination  and  then  sank  back  into  grosser  darkness. 
Bu1  in  the  li'_r!it  of  his  new  experience  his  unerring  religious 
instinct  taught  him  that  the  cross  wa  •  uol  a  tragic  accid<  q1  : 


ch.  m.]  ST.  PAUL'S  CONVERSION  55 

that  it  was  wrought  into  the  very  texture  of  God's  self- 
revelation  to  men.  And  so  he  wrestled  with  its  mystery  on 
every  side,  endeavouring  to  express  by  analogies  based  on 
the  Old  Testament,  b}^  thought-forms  of  the  Judaism  in 
which  he  had  been  reared,  and  by  daring  constructions  of 
his  own  speculative  power,  the  ineffable  significance  of  the 
crisis  in  which  the  love  of  God  at  its  highest  met  the  sin  of 
men  at  its  worst. 

We  must,  however,  guard  against  the  idea  that  the  chief 
effect  of  his  conversion  on  Paul  was  the  reshaping  of  intel- 
lectual positions.  That  is  the  element  in  his  experience 
which  is  easiest  to  account  for  and  to  describe.  But  behind 
that  lay  the  recreated  attitude  towards  God.  Not  the 
God  he  had  worshipped  in  Judaism,  not  even  the  God 
that  might  be  approached  through  the  prophets  of  the  Old 
Testament,  but  the  God  who  was  interpreted  by  Christ. 
Here  we  touch  the  heart  of  the  situation.  But  it  lies  so 
deep  that  we  need  not  attempt  to  fathom  it.  We  can 
only  say  that  in  this  contact  with  the  Divine,  Paul  became 
aware  of  the  real  meaning  of  God,  not  as  a  mental  j  udgment 
or  conclusion,  but  as  the  assurance  of  love  and  redeeming 
power.  A  sick  man  may  read  with  interest  a  scientific 
description  of  the  symptoms  of  returning  health.  But 
there  is  a  world  of  difference  between  that  interest  and  the 
actual  experience  of  new  vigour  and  power  of  action.  The 
personal  quickening  came  first  in  Paul's  case  :  removal 
of  barriers,  access  to  God,  understanding  of  His  nature, 
complete  and  joyful  trust  in  His  grace  and  love,  the  sense  of 
victory  over  sin,  power  to  live  as  a  son  of  the  Father,  and, 
resulting  from  this,  a  fresh  vision  of  duty  and  responsibility. 
Nothing  could  be  more  characteristic  of  the  meaning  of  his 
conversion  for  Paul  than  the  relation  to  Christ  on  which 
he  enters.  Much  later  in  his  career  he  says  :  '  For  me  to 
live  is  Christ.'  x  But  this  attitude  began  with  the  crisis. 
Whatever  other  elements  may  be  involved  in  his  favourite 
designation  of  Christ  as  *  Lord,'  the  personal  stands  in  the 
forefront.     To  Christ  he  makes  over  his  life  in  all  its  parts 

*  Phil.  i.  21. 


56  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft.  i. 

and  possibilities.  No  other  power  can  contest  that 
sovereignty.  He  is  Christ's  '  slave  '  (SovAov),1  to  do  and 
to  suffer  all  that  his  Lord  may  appoint.  He  exults  in 
being  led  a  captive  in  Christ's  triumphal  procession.2 

(b)  A  Call  to  Service 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  in  the  two  classical  passages 
in  which  he  refers  to  his  conversion,  Paul  directly  associates 
the  event  with  a  call  to  service.  In  Gal.  i.  15,  16,  he 
describes  the  purpose  of  the  revelation  of  Christ  to  him 
as  involving  a  mission  to  the  heathen.  And  in  2  Cor.  iv.  6 
he  declares  that  the  light  of  God  had  shone  within  his  heart 
;  to  illuminate  men  with  the  knowledge  of  God's  glory  in  the 
face  of  Christ '  (M.).  Some  scholars,  notably  Sir  William 
Ramsay,3  have  laid  much  stress  on  the  idea  that,  from  his 
earliest  days,  Paul's  ardent  ambition  was  to  win  the 
Roman  Empire  for  Judaism,  and  that  as  a  Christian  he 
simply  carried  forward  on  new  lines  the  bold  plan  which 
he  had  long  before  conceived.  There  is  nothing  impos- 
sible in  the  hypothesis.  But  we  prefer  to  follow  the 
apostle's  own  indications  and  to  trace  his  missionary 
enterprise  among  heathen  peoples  to  the  intrinsic  nature 
of  his  great  spiritual  discovery. 

Much  discussion  has  turned  on  the  question,  '  At  what 
point  in  his  Christian  career  did  Paul  resolve  to  preach  his 
Gospel  to  the  non-Jewish  world  ? '  In  the  story  of  his  self- 
defence  narrated  in  Acts  xxii.,  mention  is  made  of  his  con- 
viction of  having  received  a  Divine  commission  to  be 
Christ's  ambassador  to  the  Gentiles  at  a  time  when  he  was 
absorbed  in  prayer  in  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem.  In 
his  address  before  Festus  and  Agrippa  this  commission 
is  immediately  connected  with  his  experience  on  the 
Damascus  road.  The  first  reference  to  his  mission-work 
among  Gentiles  is  probably  that  in  Acts  xi.  25  f.,  where 
Barnabas  is  described  as  having  gone  to  Tarsus  and  brought 

'   Etam.  i.  1  ;  Gal  i.  IOj   Phil.  i.  I.  ■  2  ("or.  ii    l  L 

*  Bee,  r.ij.,  hia  interesting  e  say  on   'The  Statesmanship  ot  Paul'  in 
Faulint  and  Other  Studies,  pp.  4U-100, 


CH.  in.]  ST.  PAUL'S  CONVERSION  57 

Paul  thence  to  Antioch,  where  a  vigorous  Christian  pro- 
paganda had  already  been  begun.  These  reports  are, 
of  course,  much  later  than  the  events  they  record,  and  the 
traditions  of  Paul's  earlier  movements  were  no  doubt 
vague  enough.  In  our  judgment  the  details  of  the  apostle's 
procedure  are  of  far  less  importance  than  the  principles  by 
which  they  were  regulated.  It  seems  an  extraordinarily 
meagre  interpretation  of  the  facts  to  suppose  that  Paul's 
splendid  realisation  of  a  universal  Gospel  was  bound  up 
with  his  new  view  of  the  Messiah  as  '  the  Heavenly  Man.'  x 
It  surely  lies  in  the  very  essence  of  the  religious  experience 
which  changed  his  life.  Whether  he  saw  all  that  this  in- 
volved for  his  own  vocation  from  the  beginning,  or  whether 
that  emerged  somewhat  later  as  the  result  of  earnest 
reflection,  is  a  matter  of  secondary  importance.  The  vital 
consequence  of  Paul's  meeting  with  the  risen  Christ  was  a 
new  experience  of  God,  and,  on  the  basis  of  that  experi- 
ence, a  new  relation  to  God.  We  must  discuss  the  situation 
fully  in  a  later  section. 

Meanwhile  it  may  be  noted  that  for  Paul  the  demand 
for  conformity  to  legal  requirements,  which  he  had  looked 
upon  as  a  Divine  demand,  vanished  out  of  sight.  The 
idea  of  attaining  the  approval  of  God  by  a  laborious 
process  of  meritorious  actions  had  been  transformed  into 
the  assurance  that  God  was  there,  waiting  to  reveal  His 
love  in  generous  fulness  to  the  soul  that  was  willing  to 
trust  Him.  But  this  attitude  of  faith  had  nothing  to  do 
with  national  prerogatives.  These  Paul  had  found  to  be 
a  positive  barrier  to  real  inward  peace  with  God.  And 
the  love  of  God  which  was  interpreted  to  men  in  Christ 
was  infinitely  larger  than  any  hereditary  privileges.  It 
yearned  for  man  as  man,  apart  from  race  or  class  or  sex. 
'  There  is  no  longer  Jew  or  Greek,  there  is  no  longer  slave 
or  freeman,  there  is  no  longer  male  or  female.  For  you  are 
all  one  in  Christ  Jesus.'  2  Here  was  an  amazing  revolution 
in  religious  outlook.  There  was  nothing  like  it  in  the  ancient 
world.     And  its  significance  possessed  Paul  as  a  consuming 

1  So  Holtzmanii,  op.  cit.,  ii.  p.  70.  *  Gal.  iii.  28. 


58  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  i 

passion.  What  truth  in  the  universe  eould  be  compared 
to  this  ?  What  must  it  mean  for  any  one  to  reach  the 
conviction  that  God  was  calling  him  into  His  family,  eager 
to  bestow  upon  him  all  the  wealth  of  His  Divine  resources  ? 
Paul  felt  with  his  whole  soul  that  it  had  made  him  a  new 
creature.  And  in  that  experience  he  was  aware  of  a  con- 
straint from  God  laid  upon  him  to  proclaim  the  good  news 
everywhere.  '  Necessity  is  laid  upon  me  :  yee,  woe  is  to 
me  if  I  do  not  preach  the  Gospel.'  x  It  was  the  one  way 
in  which  he  could  discharge  his  unspeakable  debt  to  Jesus 
Christ. 

Paul  invariably  associates  his  apostolic  labours  with  a 
Divine  purpose  and  call.  The  all-important  description 
of  his  conversion  in  Gal.  i.  15,  already  cited,  lays  particular 
emphasis  on  God's  choice  of  His  instrument,  and  its  form 
suggests  that  Paul  had  in  his  mind  the  account  given  by 
Jeremiah  of  his  call  to  the  prophetic  office.2  The  Old 
Testament  recognises  no  second  causes.  All  events  are 
referred  directly  to  Divine  causation.  But  in  Paul's  case 
there  was  something  more  than  a  traditional  belief.  He 
was  profoundly  conscious  of  the  antagonism  between 
past  and  present  in  his  history.  And  yet  that  past,  with 
its  bondage  and  dissatisfaction,  had  been  preparing  for 
what  followed.  He  htid  been  '  kept  in  strict  ward  with  a 
view  to  the  faith  which  was  destined  to  be  revealed.'  3 
Then,  at  what  appeared  to  his  reflection  the  most  unlikely 
moment,  when  he  was  at  the  height  of  his  persecuting  fury, 
he  was  brought  to  a  sudden  halt  by  a  force  blended  of 
love  and  wisdom  and  power.  He  felt  it  to  be  Divine, 
and  as  he  could  never  hold  an  atomistic  view  of  history, 
he  was  persuaded  that  from  the  very  beginning,  all  un- 
conscious as  he  was,  the  Divine  hand  had  been  shaping 
his  career  for  that  decisive  epoch  in  which  the  veil  was  torn 
from  his  eyes,  and  the  truth  flashed  upon  him  in  the 
personal  manifestation  of  the  Son  of  God.  This  persuasion 
became  regulative  for  the  entire  course  of  his  life  A  ohiel 
effect  of  it  may  be  designated  his  apostolic  consciousness 

»  1  Cor.  ix.  ltt.  ■  Jer.  i.  o.  *  Gul.  iii.  23. 


ch.  in.]  ST.  PAUL'S  CONVERSION  59 

He  believed  intensely  that  he  had  been  set  apart  to  declare 
the  good  news  of  Christ  to  the  heathen.1  His  descriptions 
of  this  vocation  are  very  instructive.  His  highest  title  is 
'  apostle,'  2  the  delegate  of  Jesus  Christ,  a  name  perhaps 
used  by  the  Master  Himself.  He  is  a  '  servant  of  Christ ' 
and  '  a  steward  of  the  mysteries  of  God.'  3  He  can  write 
to  the  Romans  '  with  a  certain  freedom,  in  virtue  of  my 
Divine  commission  as  a  priest  of  Christ  Jesus  to  the 
Gentiles  in  the  service  of  God's  Gospel.'  4  On  the  basis 
of  this  same  commission,  he  has  laid  the  foundation  of  the 
spiritual  house  at  Corinth  as  '  a  skilled  master  builder.'  5 
God  has  fitted  him  for  being  the  minister  of  a  new  covenant.6 
On  Christ's  behalf  he  comes  as  an  ambassador,  as  if  God 
were  urging  men  through  him.7  To  him  the  Divine  secret 
has  been  revealed  that  Gentiles  are  to  share  with  Jews  in 
the  promises  of  God.8  Therefore,  if  we  are  to  form  any  true 
conception  of  his  general  standpoint,  we  must  keep  in  mind 
this  '  apostolic  consciousness.'  To  this  must  be  attributed 
the  tone  of  grave  authority  which  he  assumes  in  writing 
to  Christian  communities,  a  tone  which  imparts  a  peculiar 
dignity  even  to  his  language  and  style,  and  marks  off  his 
Epistles  completely  from  those  colloquial  documents  with 
which  they  have  so  often  been  compared.  The  high  claims 
which  he  constantly  makes  do  not  rest  on  a  love  of  power  or 
confidence  in  his  own  judgment.  None  of  the  great  figures 
in  human  history  was  more  conscious  of  weakness.  '  I 
carry  this  treasure'  (of  the  Gospel),  he  says,  'in  a  frail 
vessel  of  earth,  to  show  that  the  transcending  power  belongs 
to  God,  not  to  myself.'  9  But  the  work  which  God  has 
entrusted  to  him  is  a  matter  of  life  and  death.  And  he 
will  run  the  risk  of  appearing  egotistic  to  save  his  beloved 
converts  from  error.  '  I  wish,'  he  begs  of  the  Corinthians, 
'  that  you  would  put  up  with  a  little  "  folly  "  from  me.  Do 
put  up  with  me,  for  I  feel  a  Divine  jealousy  on  your  behalf.' 10 

1  See  esp.  Rom.  i.  1-5;  Gal.  i.  16.  2  E.g.  1  Cor.  ix.  1. 

3   1  Cor.  iv.  1.  4  Rom.  xv.  15,  16  (M.). 

5   1  Cor.  iii.  10.  6  2  Cor.  iii.  6. 

7  2  Cor.  v.  20.  •  Eph.  iii.  2-9;  Col.  i.  25-27. 

•  2  Cor.  iv.  7  (partly  M.).  ,0  2  Cor.  xi.  1  (M.). 


60  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft.  i. 

Was  there  ever  penned  a  more  amazing  document  than 
2  Cor.  x.-xiii.  ?  For  the  spiritual  health  of  this  community 
he  feels  compelled  to  defend  his  position  against  unscrupulous 
men  who  were  working  hard  to  undermine  their  confidence 
in  him.  It  hurts  his  sensitive  feeling  to  assert  his  claims 
upon  their  respect.  '  I  am  mad  to  talk  like  this,'  he  inter- 
jects, in  the  course  of  his  statement.1  But  the  climax  of 
this  marvellous  self -revelation,  in  which  every  thought  and 
emotion  can  be  tracked  as  they  pass  over  his  soul,  brings  out 
the  genuine  attitude  of  the  devoted,  self -forgetful  pastor 
and  teacher  :  '  I  am  glad  to  be  weak  if  3^011  are  strong.'  2 
Hence  all  charges  of  arrogance  and  presumption  are  simply 
due  to  a  misunderstanding  of  the  ground  which  the  apostle 
occupies.  From  first  to  last  he  is  conscious  of  being  the 
4  spokesman  of  Christ.'  3 


(c)  His  Election 

This  '  apostolic  consciousness '  of  Paul  means,  as  we 
have  indicated,  his  conviction  that  God  has  chosen  him  for 
a  high  vocation.  But  if  we  think  at  all  of  choice  in  con- 
nection with  God,  it  cannot  be  conceived  as  something 
casual,  but  as  belonging  to  His  eternal  vision  of  things. 
So  we  are  confronted  with  Paul's  idea  of  Election,  the  main 
significance  of  which  has  constantly  been  misconceived 
owing  to  the  emphasis  being  placed  on  the  wrong  element  in 
it.  We  know  how,  in  the  Old  Testament,  the  people  of 
Israel,  from  their  remarkable  experience  of  the  goodness  of 
God,  concluded  that  He  had  specially  chosen  them  for  His 
favour  from  among  the  nations.  And  the  great  prophets 
like  Amos  find  in  that  position  not  a  reason  for  self- 
satisfaction  or  slackness  of  effort,  but  for  a  deeper  sense 
of  responsibility.4  Paul  also  starts  from  personal  experi- 
ence. The  wonder  of  God's  grace  to  him  in  Christ  has  over- 
powered him.  What  does  it  mean  ?  Afl  we  have  seen, 
liis  destination  for  a  special  function  in  the  all-wise  plan  of 

1    2  C.r.   xi.   LV<  (MA  I   2  Cor.   xiii.  <<  (MA 

•   2  Cor.  xiii.  :{  (MA  *    Amos  iii.   L\ 


ch.  in.]  ST.  PAUL'S  CONVERSION  61 

God.  But  that  forms  part  of  the  profound  experience 
which  he  calls  his  salvation.  Such  an  experience  cannot 
be  a  mere  accident.  It  must  go  back  to  God's  eternal 
purpose.  It  is  involved  in  God's  thought  for  the  world. 
That  thought  must  sooner  or  later  be  realised.  And  so  when 
Paul  feels  the  inadequacy  of  his  service  and  shrinks  from 
presenting  so  faltering  an  obedience  to  the  all-holy  Father, 
his  soul  is  cheered  by  the  assurance  that  the  God  who  has 
taken  such  pains  with  his  life  will  not  allow  that  life  to 
fail.  Human  weakness  does  much  to  hamper  the  progress 
of  the  Divine  operation.  But  Paul  is  convinced  that  what 
God  has  begun  He  will  carry  out  to  the  end.1  '  Faithful 
is  he  who  calls  you  :  he  will  also  perform  it.'  2  The  loving 
effort  which  God  lavishes  on  winning  a  life  for  His  service, 
Paul  describes  as  His  '  call.'  Those  who  respond  to  it 
thereby  prove  themselves  to  be  the  objects  of  His  choice. 
And  they  are  able  to  realise  that  while  they  work  out  their 
own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling,  God  Himself  is 
behind  and  in  the  process,  by  His  gracious  disposition 
towards  them  enabling  them  to  achieve  their  desire  without 
failure.  What  of  the  other  side  of  the  picture  ?  Has  God 
deliberately  and  in  His  eternal  purpose  excluded  some 
from  His  salvation  in  Jesus  Christ  ?  The  apostle  was  too 
whole-hearted  a  missionary  to  act  at  any  time  on  that 
assumption.  As  Julicher  admirably  puts  it  :  '  He  never 
said  to  any  one  :  You  have  been  made  hard  of  heart,  you 
have  been  destined  to  unbelief  and  destruction  :  there  is 
no  use  wasting  my  energy  in  trying  to  win  you  over  : 
there  is  no  use  wasting  love  on  you.  .  .  .  For  Paul's 
practical  piety  both  propositions  alike  stand  firm  :  I  myself 
am  responsible  for  all  my  sins  :  all  that  is  good  in  me  is  the 
gift  of  God's  grace.'  3  The  misconception  referred  to  is 
due  to  the  prominence  given  to  the  theoretical  discussion 
of  Rom.  ix.-xi.  There  the  apostle  is  face  to  face  with  the 
serious  problem  of  the  rejection  of  Christ  by  the  Jewish 
people.  It  fills  him  with  perplexity.  What  can  it  mean  ? 
Has  the  purpose  of  God  for  Israel  been  defeated  ?     To 

1  Phil.  i.  6.  *  1  Thess.  v.  24.  3  Paulas  u,  Jesus,  p.  40. 


02  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  i. 

begin  with,  he  endeavours  to  show  from  what  actually 
happened  in  the  history  of  the  nation  that,  far  back  in  the 
past,  religious  distinctions  revealed  themselves  between 
various  families,  Isaac  and  Ishmael,  Esau  and  Jacob. 
And  he  ends  by  pointing  out  to  his  Gentile  readers  that,  as 
it  is,  a  remnant  of  the  chosen  people  have  entered  the 
promised  blessedness,  and  by  disclosing  his  conviction  that 
one  day  '  all  Israel  will  be  saved.'  But  in  the  course  of 
his  argument  he  tries  to  account  for  the  actual  circum- 
stances of  the  case  by  the  Pharisaic  theory  that  God  has 
mercy  on  whom  He  pleases  and  makes  stubborn  whom  He 
pleases.  This  is  plainly  to  ignore  the  moral  conditions  of 
the  Divine  activity.  For,  as  Dr.  Denney  has  tersely  put 
it  in  his  comment  on  Rom.  ix.  20,  which  compares  God's 
relation  to  man  with  that  of  the  potter  to  the  clay,  '  A 
man  is  not  a  thing,  and  if  the  whole  explanation  of  his 
destiny  is  to  be  sought  in  the  bare  will  of  God,  he  will  say, 
Why  didst  Thou  make  me  thus  ?  And  not  even  the 
authority  of  Paul  will  silence  him.'  1 

(d)  The  Bearing  of  his  Vocation  on  his  Theology 

As  Paul's  consciousness  of  a  direct  call  from  God  gave 
stability  to  his  faith,  so  the  purpose  of  that  call  absorbed 
his  practical  interest.  In  attempting  to  estimate  his 
religious  thought,  it  is  needful  to  bear  in  mind  that  it  took 
shape  on  the  mission-field,  and  that  its  most  important 
features  were  to  a  large  extent  determined  by  missionary 
experience.  However  meagre  our  knowledge  of  Paul's 
earlier  Christian  career,  it  is  plain  that  from  the  first  he 
became  a  preacher  of  the  Gospel.  So  there  was  probably 
no  period  in  his  Christian  life  in  which  he  was  not  testing 
the  validity  of  those  truths  which  appeared  to  him  funda- 
mental. It  was  pointed  out  in  an  earlier  paragraph  that 
lie  would  naturally  attach  supreme  value  to  (he  convictions 
which  had  Bprung  out  of  the  crisis  of  his  conversion.  He 
would  be  constrained  to  believe  that  the  particular  revela- 

1    Expo*.  Greek  Test.,  ii.  p.  663. 


en.  in.]  ST.  PAUL'S  CONVERSION  63 

tion  of  God  in  Christ  which  had  brought  peace  and  joy  to 
his  own  soul  must  be  equally  effective  in  the  lives  of  others. 
Jesus  Christ  would  always  be  the  centre  of  his  message. 
But  obviously  he  had,  as  a  Christian  missionary,  to  deal 
with  divergent  types  of  men.  Although  he  regarded  the 
heathen  communities  of  the  Empire  as  his  peculiar  sphere, 
his  heart  yearned  for  his  brethren  in  Judaism,  and  especially 
for  Jews  of  the  Dispersion  like  himself.  Now,  in  this  case, 
he  had  a  wide  basis  of  common  belief  from  winch  to  start. 
There  was  the  one  living  and  true  God  to  whom  they  and 
he  alike  did  reverence.  There  was  the  conviction  of  a 
future  Judgment  in  which  men  should  be  recompensed 
according  to  the  actual  issue  of  their  earthly  life.  There 
was  the  hope  of  a  new  order  of  things,  associated  with  the 
manifestation  of  the  Messiah,  in  which  those  declared 
righteous  by  God  should  enter  upon  a  condition  of  eternal 
blessedness  And  he  could  count  on  an  acknowledgment 
from  his  Jewish  audiences  of  a  moral  standard  which  placed 
them  on  a  far  higher  level  than  that  of  heathenism.  But 
Paul  had  to  enlarge  the  conception  of  a  righteous  and  holy 
God  by  emphasising  that  grace  and  love  which  through 
Christ  had  come  to  be  for  him  the  truest  expression  of  the 
Divine  character.  He  had  to  turn  the  hearts  of  his  fellow- 
countrymen  from  the  attitude  of  trembling  uncertainty  in 
which  they  stood  towards  the  decision  of  God  upon  their 
conduct,  and  to  persuade  them  that  in  union  with  Christ, 
the  union  reached  through  faith,  they  could  even  now 
become  assured  of  God's  forgiveness  for  Christ's  sake. 
He  had  to  urge  that  their  painful  efforts  to  win  merit  in 
God's  sight  were  rendered  needless  by  the  wondrous 
exhibition  of  the  very  meaning  of  God  in  the  cross  of  His 
Son.  So  that  his  central  doctrine  of  Justification  by  faith 
is  not  a  scholastic  abstraction,  formulated  to  round  off  an 
artificial  theory.  It  is,  as  Luther  discovered  later,  an 
attempt  to  express  in  limited  human  terms  what  is  most 
vital  in  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  It  was  impossible  for 
him,  however,  to  show  the  real  value  of  this  new  attitude 
to  God  without  revealing  the  inadequacy  of  the  old.    Hence 


64  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  i. 

his  constant  criticism  of  Pharisaic  legalism,  the  religious 
attitude  which  had  kept  his  own  soul  in  a  state  of  unrest. 
This  criticism  comes  into  the  forefront  of  his  Epistles, 
because  Jews  and  Judaising  Christians  regarded  Paul's 
independence  of  the  Law  both  as  treachery  to  the  Divine 
revelation  and  as  a  serious  peril  for  morality.  In  the  case 
of  the  former,  of  course,  it  was  only  one  of  several  formid- 
able barriers  between  them  and  the  new  faith.  But  as 
regards  the  latter,  Paul  felt  that  their  Christian  position 
was  vitiated  in  its  very  foundation  by  their  failure  to 
recognise  that  it  meant  the  exchange  of  codes  of  regulations 
for  the  free  and  joyful  inspiration  of  the  Spirit  of  God. 
When  they  endeavoured  to  force  their  view  upon  con- 
verts from  heathenism,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  charge  them 
with  falsifying  the  Gospel  of  Christ. 

The  Messianic  Hope  was  a  burning  question  in  Judaisir, 
when  Paul  became  a  follower  of  Jesus.  Nothing  produced 
upon  him  a  more  profound  impression  than  the  discovery 
that  in  Jesus  all  the  promises  of  God  were  fulfilled.  He 
retained  much  of  the  Jewish  eschatology  associated  with 
the  consummation  of  the  Kingdom  of  God,  but  even  this 
was  powerfully  affected  by  the  recognition  that  in  a  real 
sense  the  new  epoch  had  already  broken  in,  that  Christians 
were  living  among  the  powers  of  the  world  to  come.  The 
pledge  of  this  was  their  actual  experience  of  the  Spirit. 
He  did  not  require  to  inculcate  morality  in  the  ordinary 
sense  upon  his  Jewish  brethren.  But  he  had  to  make  plain 
to  them  that  the  presence  in  their  lives  of  the  Divine  Spirit, 
which  was  God's  answer  to  their  faith,  was  a  much  more 
stable  basis  of  worthy  conduct  than  any  formal  attempts 
to  comply  with  a  legal  standard. 

Probably  Paul's  method  of  approach  as  a  Christian 
missionary  to  Jewish  audiences  would  to  a  large  extent 
appeal  to  those  '  God  -fearers,'  1  who  formed  groups  of 
earnest  inquirers  in  many  Jewish  synagogues,  and  who 
were  already  influenced  by  the  idea  of  one  righteous  Qod, 

1  Regularly  described  as  oi  <jcp6/j.evoi  t6v  Oe6v  iu  Acts.     Moffat t  tram* 
lutes  '  devout  proselytes.' 


ce.  in.]  ST.  PAUL'S  CONVERSION  65 

a  moral  life,  and  a  future  day  of  retribution.  When, 
however,  he  came  to  deal  with  Gentiles,  he  could  not  as  a 
rule  take  these  fundamental  positions  for  granted.  First 
and  foremost  in  that  ancient  Hellenistic  world  stood  the 
need  of  Redemption.  It  is  true  that  this  took  the  form  of 
a  yearning  to  be  li  berated  from  the  crushing  tyranny  of 
Fate  or  of  those  elemental  spirits  whose  malice  was  every- 
where feared.  Men  were  burdened  with  a  sense  of  helpless- 
ness rather  than  of  sin.  They  believed  in  supernatural 
powers,  but  merely  to  be  suspicious  of  them.  Paul 
proclaimed  to  them  the  cross  of  Christ  as  a  demonstration 
of  that  ineffable  Divine  love  which  was  incarnate  in  the 
Saviour,  as  an  exposure  of  human  sin  at  its  darkest  in 
rejecting  the  gracious  appeal  of  God,  and  as  an  exhibition 
of  the  Divine  righteousness  in  virtue  of  which  all  contact 
with  sin  means  suffering.  The  cross  of  Christ  is  his  central 
theme.  For  he  knows  by  experience  that  it  constitutes  the 
most  powerful  summons  to  repentance.  God  is  there  in  His 
love  and  holiness,  condemning  sin,  and  offering  deliverance 
in  Christ  to  the  sinner.  But  this  fundamental  Gospel  of 
the  apostle  bore  directly  on  the  heathen  attitude  of  fear 
towards  the  mighty  powers  that  towered  above  them. 
God  was  no  longer  blind  force  or  inscrutable  cunning. 
He  was  presented  in  gracious  guise  as  the  loving  Father, 
the  Father  of  the  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  He  was 
brought  near  to  them  in  His  dear  Son,  the  Redeemer. 
And  their  contact  with  Him  meant  inspiration  with  new 
life  and  power.  They  were  not  abandoned  to  the  passing 
effects  of  magical  ceremonies  and  mystic  initiations.  They 
were  equipped  with  the  very  qualities  which  gave  them  the 
victory  over  sin  and  temptation.  The  whole  armour  or 
God  was  placed  at  their  disposal  in  virtue  of  their  surrender 
to  Christ.  Now  this  power  imparted  to  them  through 
the  Divine  Spirit  was  to  find  expression,  not  in  fitful  out- 
bursts of  enthusiasm  like  the  frenzy  of  heathen  orgies 
but  in  the  channels  of  daily  behaviour.  Love,  joy,  kind- 
ness, purity,  lowliness,  trustworthiness,  self-control — these 
were  the  genuine  fruits  of  the  Spirit.     It  is  plain  from 


6b  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft.  L 

the  evidence  of  the  Epistles  that  Paul  spared  no  pains  in 
the  ethical  training  of  his  converts.  And  perhaps  nothing 
proved  more  effective  in  morally  immature  communities 
than  his  announcement  of  a  day  in  which  God  should 
judge  the  secrets  of  men  by  Jesus  Christ.  This  day  was 
coincident  with  the  return  of  Christ  and  the  complete 
inauguration  of  that  age  in  which  God's  rule  should  be 
supreme.  The  thought  of  its  approach,  the  conviction 
that  the  dark  night  was  already  receding  before  the  dawn, 
formed  a  powerful  incentive  to  sobriety  of  life  and  watch- 
ful self-control.  Idolatry,  sensuality,  strife,  untruthfulness, 
fraud — how  could  a  soul  soiled  by  such  stains  appear  in 
presence  of  the  spotless  purity  of  Christ  ?  So  that  Paul's 
emphasis  on  the  Parousia  is  not  a  piece  of  mere  eschatolo- 
gical  scenery,  but  a  powerful  appeal  for  Christian  living. 

We  have  already  seen  that  the  constantly  recurring 
discussions  of  legalism  in  the  Epistles  had  a  much  wider 
application  than  to  Jewish  or  Jewish -Christian  com- 
munities. They  were  thoroughly  relevant  to  the  tradi- 
tional subjection  of  heathen  peoples  to  innumerable 
rites  and  customs,  which  usually  had  little  ethical  signifi- 
cance. Therefore  the  proclamation  of  an  inward  freedom 
of  the  spirit  as  the  very  kernel  of  religion,  while  possessing 
its  own  dangers,  as  Paul  well  knew,  meant  a  welcome 
liberation  from  a  routine  which  was  irksome  in  proportion 
to  its  lack  of  value  for  spiritual  needs. 

The  unerring  moral  perception  revealed  in  Paul's  selec- 
tion of  truth  to  be  set  forth  is  attested  on  every  mission- 
field.  The  aspects  of  Christian  faith  and  morality  which 
he  never  wearies  of  commending  are  precisely  those  which 
the  modern  missionary  finds  most  effective.1  This  must 
be  borne  in  mind  at  a  time  when  so  much  stress  is  laid  on 
the  chasm  which  separates  Paul's  religious  ideas  from  ours. 
Unquestionably  his  theology  has  primarily  in  view  those 
who.  through  the  crisis  of  conversion,  have  come  over  from 
heathenism  to  Christianity,  and  it  wa3  shaped  at  the  outset 
in  the  throes  of  a  parallel  experience  of  his  own.     Such  a 

I  Pee  o«p.  Warncck,  op.  cit.,  pp.  81-122,  287-339. 


oh.  in.]  ST.  PAUL'S  CONVERSION  67 

course  cannot  be  postulated  as  normal.  But  we  must 
beware  of  forgetting  that  the  elemental  things  in  religion 
are  strangely  persistent.  And  there  is  rich  significance  in 
Harnack's  observation  that  all  the  great  movements  of 
spiritual  renewal  in  the  history  of  the  Church  may  be 
traced  to  a  fresh  discovery  of  the  meaning  of  the  Gospel 
of  Paul. 


68  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  TH£  EWoTLBS  lpt.  1. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  NORMATIVE  INFLUENCE  OF  ST.  PAUL'S  CONVERSION  ON 
HIS  RELIGIOUS   THOUGHT 

(a)  Jesus  the  Conqueror  of  Death 

Enough  has  been  said  to  make  it  perfectly  clear  that 
Paul's  entire  conversion -experience  circled  round  the 
person  of  Jesus.  Henceforth  he  was  persuaded  that  his 
function  in  the  world  was  to  bring  his  fellow-men  into  touch 
with  those  supreme  benefits  which,  through  Jesus  Christ, 
had  transformed  existence  for  him.  This  epoch-making 
change  affected  even''  feature  of  his  religious  outlook. 
His  view  of  God,  his  Messianic  expectation,  his  eschatology. 
his  relation  to  the  Law,  his  moral  ideal — all  were  directly 
modified  in  the  light  of  the  decisive  revelation  which  had 
come  to  him.  Truly  old  things  had  passed  away  ;  new 
things  had  come  to  be.1  It  is  plain,  therefore,  that  his 
religious  thought  will  be,  primarily,  the  result  of  reflection 
upon  these  new  things.  So  that  we  ought  to  be  able  to 
discover  the  main  drift  of  his  theology  by  examining  the 
convictions  which  were  borne  in  upon  his  mind  by  his 
conversion. 

Paul,  as  we  have  noted,  must  have  been  familiar  with 
the  common  faith  of  those  Christians  whom  he  harassed. 
For  them  everything  turned  on  the  assurance  that  Jesus, 
who  had  been  crucified,  was  risen.  There  was  no  belief 
comparable  to  this  in  the  history  of  Jewish  religion,  and 
its  sheer  daring  must  have  impressed  a  mind  like  Paul's, 
more  especially  as  it  was  associated  with  one  who  had  died 
a  death  of  shame.     The  crucifixion  of  Jesus  by  itself  put 

1  2  Cor.  v.  17. 


.UEXCE  OF  8T.  PAUL'S  CONVERSION  69 

an  end  for  ever  to  all  Messianic  claims  and  hopes.  But 
if  He  could  not  be  holden  of  death,  no  dignity  could  be 
too  honourable  for  Him.  The  suggestion  was  monstrous. 
And  Paul  must  often  have  fallen  back  on  its  incredibility, 
when  his  opposition  to  the  Nazarenes  required  reinforce- 
ment. But  it  was  this  Jesus  who  laid  hold  of  him,  who 
claimed  his  liic,  who  made  him  a  new  creature.  Astounding 
readjustments  of  religious  ideas  were  needful  in  every 
direction,  as  soon  as  he  had  opportunity  to  make  them. 
These  readjustments  form  the  subject  of  our  investigation. 
But  the  presupposition  of  them  all  is  Jesus  as  the  conqueror 
of  death. 

The  central  place  of  this  conviction  in  Paul's  mind  is 
evident  from  the  stress  which  he  lays  upon  it  in  crucial 
passages  of  his  Letters.  Thus  in  the  opening  words  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  a  document  intended  to  lay  bare 
the  essence  of  his  Gospel,  when  linking  together  the  name 
of  Jesus  Christ  with  that  of  God  the  Father,  he  attaches 
to  the  latter  the  description,  '  who  raised  him  from  the 
dead.'  x  That  is  to  say,  in  his  new  discovery  of  the  mind 
and  purpose  of  God,  the  most  amazing  element  was  the 
resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  idea  is  elaborated  in  his 
famous  statement  regarding  Jesus  Christ  in  the  introduction 
to  Romans  :  '  Born  of  the  seed  of  David  by  natural 
descent,  and  installed  as  Son  of  God  with  power  in  virtue 
of  the  Spirit  of  holiness  as  the  result  of  resurrection  from 
the  dead.'  2  Here  is  a  compendium  of  Paul's  Christology, 
and  it  illuminates  what  he  conceives  to  be  the  bearing  of 
the  resurrection  on  the  person  of  Christ.  The  resurrection 
has  put  the  seal  upon  His  supreme  dignity  as  Son  of  God, 
with  all  that  that  involves  for  His  relation  to  men.  He  is 
now  exalted  to  the  highest  place  that  heaven  affords. 
It  is  no  arbitrary  process,  for  it  is  the  operation  of  that 
Spirit  of  holiness  which  was  the  controlling  principle  of 
His  nature,  and  which  death  could  not  quench.  But  for 
Paul,  the  practical  consequence  of  this  crowning  event  in 
the  experience  of  his  Lord  and  Master  is  paramount.      In 

1  Gal.  i.   1.  ■'   Hum.  i.  3,  4  (partly  'SI.). 


70  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  i. 

one  of  the  most  intimate  of  all  his  self-revelations,  he 
declares  how  he  has  spurned  all  that  he  once  had  valued 
in  order  to  know  Christ  '  in  the  power  of  his  resurrection 
and  the  fellowship  of  his  sufferings.'  1  The  basis  of  a 
genuine  heart-to-heart  knowledge  of  Christ  is  His  risen  life. 
The  later  development  in  the  Johannine  literature  is  the 
elaboration  of  Paul's  position  :  '  He  who  possesses  the 
Son  possesses  life.'  2 

These  passages  suggest  the  main  significance  of  Paul's 
conviction  that  Jesus  has  conquered  death.  (1)  The  re- 
surrection is  God's  vindication  of  all  that  Christ  has  been 
and  has  done.  His  career  is  shot  through  with  a  Divine 
purpose.  What  seems  tragic  failure  can  be  estimated  in 
its  genuine  meaning,  when  viewed  in  the  light  of  its 
consummation.  Christ's  earthly  life,  Christ's  death  of 
shame,  cannot  be  understood  apart  from  His  resurrection 
which  involves  His  exaltation.  It  is  very  noteworthy  that 
when  Paul  thinks  of  His  human  experience,  it  is  as  an 
element  in  His  humiliation  (e.g.  Phil.  ii.  7  ;  2  Cor.  viii.  9), 
that  humiliation  whose  climax  is  the  cross  (Phil  ii.  8). 
All  this  leads  up  to  His  supreme  dignity  as  Son  of  God  with 
power.  That  is  the  complement  of  His  voluntary  self- 
renunciation  :  '  Wherefore  also  God  highly  exalted  him 
and  gave  him  the  name  which  is  above  every  name ' 
(Phil.  ii.  9).  (2)  All  that  has  been  said  implies  that  for 
Paul  the  resurrection  forms  an  integral  part  of  God's 
redeeming  operation.  Not  only  may  such  an  impression 
be  drawn  from  the  association  of  ideas  in  Phil.  iii.  10  and 
from  Gal.  i.  1-4,  where  the  resurrection  is  plainly  connected 
with  Christ's  redemption  of  men,  but  the  fact  is  emphasised 
in  the  highly  compressed  statement  of  Rom.  iv.  25  :  '  Jesus 
who  was  "  delivered  up  for  our  trespasses  "  3  and  raised 
that  we  might  be  justified.'  This  is  one  of  those  character- 
istically Pauline  passages  in  which  the  death  and  resur- 
rection of  Jesus  Christ  are  regarded  as  inseparable  co- 
efficients of  the  same  mighty  achievement.     The  words 

>  Phil.  iii.  10  (M.).  ■  1  John  v.  12  (M.). 

*  c^uutud  probably  from  Isa.  liii.  12  (LXX). 


ch.  iv.]     INFLUENCE  OF  ST.  PAUL'S  CONVERSION  71 

must  not  be  parsed,  but  interpreted  in  their  broad  signific- 
ance. They  do  not  suggest  that  the  cross  meant  one  thing 
and  the  resurrection  another.  For  Paul  the  cross  is  un- 
intelligible apart  from  the  resurrection,  and  the  real  im- 
port of  the  resurrection  becomes  clear  only  in  the  light  of 
the  cross.  The  words  mean,  to  quote  Dr.  Denney's  apt 
comment,  '  that  we  believe  in  a  living  Saviour,  and  that 
it  is  faith  in  Him  which  justifies.  But  then  it  is  faith  in 
Him  as  One  who  not  only  lives,  but  was  delivered  up  to 
death  to  atone  for  our  offences.  He  both  died  and  was 
raised  for  our  justification  :  the  work  is  one  and  its  end 
one.'  x  Here  Paul  interprets  the  death  of  Christ  from  his 
experience  of  the  risen  Lord.  (3)  But  the  revelation  of 
Jesus  as  the  conqueror  of  death  meant  for  Paul  immediate 
contact  with  the  forces  of  that  higher  order  which  was 
destined  to  replace  '  this  present  evil  age.'  He  felt  that 
the  coming  era  of  blessedness,  so  long  and  wistfully  yearned 
for,  was  at  the  door.  He  speaks  of  himself  and  his  fellow- 
Christians  as  those  '  whose  lot  has  been  cast  in  the  closing 
hours  of  the  world.' 2  The  reign  of  Messiah  has  begun  with 
the  exaltation  of  Jesus.  New  powers  are  being  liberated 
from  the  unseen,  of  which  Paul  is  intensely  conscious.  The 
risen  Lord  dwells  in  the  souls  of  His  faithful  disciples.3  The 
love  of  God  has  been  poured  forth  in  their  hearts  through 
the  Holy  Spirit  given  to  them.4  This  confidence  in  the 
dawn  of  the  new  epoch  of  God's  dominion  must  inevitably 
kindle  high  hopes  and  enthusiasms.  Already  the  apostle 
can  say  :  '  Our  commonwealth  is  in  heaven,  from  whence 
we  eagerly  look  for  the  Saviour.'  5  The  corollary  of  such 
high  confidence  is  to  be  found  in  the  injunction  :  '  Seek  the 
things  where  Christ  is  seated  at  the  right  hand  of  God  .  .  . 
for  you  died  and  your  life  is  hidden  with  Christ  in  God.'  6 
(4)  We  know  how  sorely  hampered  Paul  felt  himself  to  be 
by  the  burden  of  physical  life.  What  he  calls  his  '  earthly 
tent '  7  he  makes  responsible  for  much  of  the  failure  of  his 
spiritual  life.     And  he  therefore  sighs  after  that  existence  in 

1  E.  O.  T.,  ii.  p.  622.  *  1  Cor.  x.  11  (M.).  8  Gal.  ii.  20.  «  Rom.  v.  6. 
»  Phil.  iii.  20.  •  Col.  iii.  1,  3.  '2  Cor.  v.  1. 


72  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  i. 

which  his  mortal  element  shall  be  swallowed  up  by  life.1 
The  risen  Christ  is  for  him  the  pledge  of  perfected  being. 
1  If  the  Spirit  of  him  who  raised  Jesus  from  the  dead  dwell 
in  you,  he  that  raised  from  the  dead  Christ  Jesus  shall  also 
make  alive  your  mortal  body  through  his  Spirit  dwelling 
in  you.'  2  Christ  is  the  first-fruits  of  those  who  have 
fallen  asleep.3  His  victory  over  the  grave  is  the  demon- 
stration that  a  triumphant  life  awaits  all  who  have  entered 
His  fellowship. 

(6)  The  Significance  of  the  Gross 

For  Paul,  as  we  have  observed,  the  significance  of  the 
cross  was  bound  up  with  the  conviction  that  Jesus  Christ 
had  conquered  death  and  was  alive  for  evermore.  The  fact 
of  a  crucified  Messiah  was  placed  in  a  new  perspective  by 
His  exaltation.  Crucifixion  in  this  case  did  not  involve 
the  curse  of  God.  Jesus  had  been  revealed  as  the 
Chosen  of  the  Divine  love.  Now  the  early  chapters  of 
Acts  reflect  the  emphasis  which  was  laid  by  the  primitive 
Christian  community  on  the  human  malice  which  brought 
about  the  cruel  death  of  Jesus.4  But  if  we  are  to  appeal 
to  them  as  evidence  for  such  a  conception,  we  must  also 
recognise  that  they  trace  the  event  to  the  deliberate  purpose 
of  God ; 5  and  associate  it  with  the  forecasts  of  the  prophets.6 
The  description  of  Jesus  in  these  chapters  as  the  '  Servant ' 
of  God  7  at  once  suggests  the  famous  '  Songs  of  the  Servant ' 
in  Deutero-lsaiah.  There  an  Old  Testament  basis  is  found 
for  the  doctrine  of  a  suffering  Messiah.  We  cannot  be  sure 
at  how  early  a  date  this  Old  Testament  foreshadowing  was 
u  to  interpret  the  Passion  of  Jesus.  Considering  the 
authoritative  place  which  the  Scriptures  held  in  the  con- 
sciousness of  Jewish  Christians,  a  place  all  the  more  unique 
now  thai  they  were  being  persecuted  l\\  the  Pharisees  and 
s<>  would  be  detached  from  the  oral  tradition,  we  are  obi iged 
to  suppose  that  almost  from  the  beginning  they  must  have 

•  2  C  i.        ».  ■  R Vll)-  '  '•  3  !  Cor.  \\ .  20. 

•  E.g.  in.   IS,   14  ;    v.  30,  •  6   I  ,:.  ii  :'.:  ;    iv,  28,  -  to. 

•  iii.'  18.  '  6  Trail,  lii.  13,  26;   iv.  87,  30. 


ch.  iv.]     INFLUENCE  OF  ST.  PAUL'S  CONVERSION  73 

eagerly  studied  the  Old  Testament  for  light  upon  the  new 
circumstances  in  which  they  found  themselves.  Whether 
Paul,  before  his  conversion,  had  ever  been  led  to  examine 
the  data,  must  be  a  matter  of  mere  conjecture.  But  as 
soon  as  he  had  entered  into  fellowship  with  the  risen  Christ, 
the  cross,  although  no  longer  a  scandal,  must  have  appeared 
an  enigma^  As  a  loyal  monotheist,  he  was  compelled  to 
assign  it  a  place  in  the  Divine  order.  But  innumerable 
questions  would  present  themselves.  The  event  was  a 
startling  reversal  of  Jewish  ideas.  The  Messiah  was  the 
very  symbol  of  triumph,  and  this  had  been  degradation. 
Yet  Jesus  was  sinless.  Why  should  the  Holy  One  of  God 
undergo  so  appalling  an  experience  ?  To  estimate  the  full 
significance  of  such  a  problem  for  Paul,  we  have  to  remind 
ourselves  that  for  a  Jew  death  was  the  emblem  of  separation 
from  God.  It  marked  the  disastrous  issue  of  that  taint  of 
evil  which  had  poisoned  human  nature  from  the  first.  The 
wages  of  sin  was  death.  What  could  this  mean  for  God's 
Vicegerent  ?  It  is  far  from  sufficient  to  say  that  it  was 
the  necessary  transition  to  a  state  of  glory  and  exalta- 
tion.1 Paul's  strenuous  mind  would  demand  some  pro- 
founder  answer  than  that.  And  the  answer  must  be  more 
than  the  device  of  a  skilful  apologetic.  We  may  readily 
admit  that  Paul  had  to  interpret  the  significance  of  the 
death  of  the  Messiah  to  other  minds  than  his  own.  But 
surely  Jiilicher's  view  of  the  situation  is  superficial  when  he 
declares  that  '  Paul  .  .  .  was  obliged  ...  to  transform 
the  "  folly  "  [of  the  cross]  into  wisdom.'  2  Paul  felt,  like 
every  unprejudiced  thinker  who  has  faced  the  facts,  that 
there  was  something  stupendous  in  the  experience  of 
Calvary,  something  that  unveiled  a  realm  of  spiritual 
realities  which  almost  blinded  the  mental  vision  of  men 
with  excess  of  light.  And  we  know  how  he  exhausted  the 
resources  of  metaphor  and  analogy  in  trying  to  express  that 
intuition  of  the  Divine  nature  which  had  flashed  upon  his 
soul  from  the  cross  of  Jesus  Christ. 

1  So,  e.g.,  Weizsacker,  Apoatol.  Zeitalter,  p.  111. 
a   Paulas  a.  Jemua,  p.  65. 


74  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft.  i. 

We  cannot  help  thinking  that  the  clue  to  his  many- 
sided  conception  of  the  death  of  Christ  is  to  be  found 
primarily  in  his  conversion-experience.  Whatever  else  in 
it  subdued  his  nature,  first  and  foremost  was  his  impres- 
sion of  unspeakable  grace.  That  was  the  atmosphere  into 
which  he  had  been  transferred  by  his  wonderful  contact 
with  the  risen  Jesus.  The  bitter  persecutor  had  been  laid 
hold  of  from  sheer  compassion.  A  love  too  deep  to  com- 
prehend had  come  to  his  aid  in  the  midst  of  bewildering 
struggle.  The  whole  relation  of  God  to  men  was  encircled 
with  mercy.  Need  we  be  surprised  that  this  liberated 
soul  attained  to  the  spiritual  height  of  the  Old  Testament 
prophet's  estimate  of  God  ?  '  In  all  their  affliction  he  was 
afflicted,  and  the  angel  of  his  presence  saved  them  :  in  his 
love  and  pity  himself  redeemed  them  :  and  he  bare  them 
and  carried  them  all  the  days  of  old.'  x  It  was  surely  his 
fresh  impression  of  the  meaning  of  God  as  discovered  in  the 
living  Christ  which  prompted  him  to  look  for  the  secret  of 
the  cross  in  the  depths  of  the  Divine  love.  We  misconceive 
Paul's  standpoint  entirely  if  we  try  to  account  for  his 
interpretation  of  the  death  of  Christ  as  the  effort  to  resolve 
by  an  ingenious  process  of  dialectic  a  problem  which  re- 
fused to  square  with  ordinary  facts.  And  it  is  easy  to 
ascribe  too  much  importance  to  the  influence  of  information 
concerning  Jesus  which  had  reached  him  in  his  Pharisaic 
days,  or  to  the  counsel  of  Christian  believers  who  assisted 
this  strange  convert  in  the  first  moments  of  his  new  life. 
We  would  by  no  means  undervalue  such  factors  in  the 
situation.2  Nothing  prevents  us  from  supposing  that  Paul 
had  heard  of  Jesus'  wonderful  way  with  outcasts  and  sinners. 
And  unquestionably  real  light  would  be  shed  upon  the 
mystery  when  he  learned  from  his  Christian  brethren  the 
pathetic  story  of  the  Last  Supper,  and  was  told  of  Jesus' 
remarkable  words  concerning  a  '  new  covenant,'  a  new 
relation  of  men  with  God,  to  be  inaugurated  by  His  death. 
Paul  was  already  conscious  of  this  new  relation.     It  had 

1   Isa.  lxiii.  9. 

•  Be*  J.  Weiss,  op.  tit.,  pp.  .'J 4 5,  348. 


ch.  iv.j     INFLUENCE  OF  ST.  PAUL'S  CONVERSION  75 

brought  joy  and  peace  to  his  soul.     Its  foundation  could  be 
nothing  else  than  the  boundless  love  of  God. 


(c)  The  Messiah  (Son  of  God) 

Paul's  conviction  that  Jesus  was  risen  carried  with  it 
the  acknowledgment  that  He  was  the  Messiah  of  God. 
Jesus'  life  and  teaching  had  involved  this  high  claim,  and 
from  the  outset  His  followers  had  placed  it  in  the  forefront. 
We  have  seen  the  serious  issue  which  confronted  an  ardent 
Pharisee  like  Paul  when  he  faced  the  situation.  Jesus 
had  shown  an  attitude  of  laxity  towards  such  vital  elements 
of  the  Jewish  system  as  the  Sabbath  laws  and  the  regula- 
tions concerning  purification.  But  the  fulfilment  of  the 
Messianic  Hope  of  Israel  depended  on  strict  loyalty  to  the 
authoritative  standard.  This  teacher  of  heresy  had  only 
met  his  deserts  when  he  was  condemned  to  the  most 
degrading  penalty  that  could  be  inflicted,  that  of  death 
by  crucifixion.  We  can  only  grasp  Paul's  estimate  of  the 
Christian  movement  if  we  try  to  realise  that  for  him,  as  for 
all  devout  Jews,  every  ideal  worth  living  for  was  summed  up 
in  the  Messianic  Age.  In  his  religious  earnestness  he  had 
yearned  and  prayed  for  the  advent  of  that  era.  His  bold 
imagination  had  often  pictured  the  bliss  of  the  final  deliver- 
ance. He  had  studied  the  forecasts  of  prophets  and 
psalmists.  In  thought  he  had  beheld  the  foreign  domina- 
tion broken,  and  the  chosen  people  fulfilling  their  function 
as  a  light  to  the  nations.  Iniquity  was  purged  and 
righteousness  was  triumphant.  As  he  looked  on  the  prosaic 
reality  of  Jewish  religion,  this  glorious  vista  must  have 
seemed  remote  enough.  But  a  worse  thing  had  happened. 
The  Nazarene  and  his  followers  were  bringing  the  national 
Hope  into  contempt.  Their  assertions  were  horrid  blas- 
phemy. 

It  is  against  the  background  of  his  earlier  position  that 
the  full  significance  of  his  new  conviction  becomes  evident. 
The  glory  of  Messiahship  in  no  way  fades  when  the  office 
is  assigned  to  Jesus.     Paul  never  loses  sight  of  the  fact 


THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft.  i. 

that  the  revelation  of  Messiah  means  the  cliinax  of  God's 
wonderful  dealings  with  His  people.  He  is  true  to  his 
former  expectations  when  he  says  of  Jesus  Christ  :  '  In 
him  is  the  "  Yes  "  that  affirms  all  the  promises  of  God.'  * 
He  cannot  conceive  any  manifestation  of  the  Divine 
purpose  which  will  surpass  that  which  he  has  received  in 
the  risen  Jesus.  But  it  is  plain  that  his  Messianic  expecta- 
tions were  profoundly  modified  by  the  actual  experience 
through  which  he  passed.  Johannes  Weiss  has  sugges- 
tively pointed  out  that  there  are  only  a  few  places  in  Paul's 
writings  where  the  constantly  recurring  term  '  Christos  ' 
can  be  translated  '  Messiah.'  2  The  expression  '  Jesus  the 
Christ '  is  never  found.  These  phenomena  indicate  that 
the  reality  of  the  personal  Jesus  has  absorbed  the  Messianic 
functions.  It  is  the  living  Person  who  has  impressed  the 
soul  of  Paul — we  may  almost  say,  the  personal  Saviour. 
The  Messiah  qua  Messiah  was  to  the  Jewish  mind  a  public 
functionary.  His  office  was  conceived  in  terms  of  kingship. 
He  was  set  apart  for  judgment.  Hence  kingly  attributes 
were  usually  ascribed  to  him  :  righteousness,  justice, 
wisdom,  power.3  For  Paul  and  the  early  Church  the 
centre  of  gravity  is  shifted.  They  have  not  to  deal  with  an 
august,  remote  Being,  whose  character  is  composed  of 
abstract  ideals.  '  Christ '  has  for  them  become  the  name 
of  a  historical  Person.  And  this  historical  Person  is  the 
embodiment  of  grace  and  lowliness  and  love.  For  those 
who  had  companied  with  Jesus  in  the  days  of  His  earthly 
ministry  that  impression  had  transcended  all  others.  Paul 
had  caught  many  glimpses  of  it  while  still  a  persecutor. 
But  now,  as  the  result  of  his  amazing  experience  of  the  risen 
Jesus,  it  was  imprinted  for  ever  on  his  soul.  In  the  light 
of  it,  the  Messianic  redemption  is  for  hini  transfigured. 
It  is  i  ed  to  a  new  level.     No  longer  can  it  mean 

the  deliverance  of  the  nation  from  an  alien  yoke,  as  a 
I  of  faithfulness  to  their  covenant  with  God.     Salva- 

•  2  ('.».-.  i.  '_'<>  (M.). 

•  in  the  phrase,  '  the  Gospel  of  Christ  * ; 
i\  in  Rom,  \    <>.  .  ;   2  0  r.  v.  10.     Bee  J.  Weiss,  "p.  'it.,  p.  360. 

*  /.'.;/.    Ipm.    XI.    I    .>. 


ch.  iv.]    INFLUENCE  OF  ST.  PAUL'S  CONVERSION  77 

tion  is  once  for  all  released  from  national  categories.  The 
very  significance  of  Paul's  contact  with  Christ  gives  it  a 
universal  bearing.  He  has  found  in  the  risen  Lord  the 
source  of  spiritual  power,  of  victory  over  sin  and  failure. 
Hence  redemption  belongs  essentially  to  the  spiritual  life. 
It  has  no  concern  with  material  conditions,  except  in  so 
far  as  these  are  evil.  The  Messiah  is  He  who  can  rescue 
from  sin,  who  can  deliver  from  that  Divine  '  wrath  '  which 
is  the  reaction  of  God's  holiness  against  all  that  is  vile.1 
But  the  transformation  of  the  Messianic  Hope  goes  deeper. 
As  has  been  hinted,  the  notion  of  reward  falls  into  the 
background.  Paul  had  honestly  faced  the  facts  as  a 
Pharisee,  and  had  been  compelled  to  acknowledge  in  the 
secret  place  of  his  heart  that  if  God  were  to  reckon  with 
His  people  on  the  ground  of  merit,  the  promised  redemp- 
tion must  still  remain  a  dream.  The  crisis  in  his  own  life 
flashed  upon  him  an  extraordinary  discovery.  God  had 
not  waited  for  him  to  win  salvation.  He  was  not  left  to 
purchase  the  boon  of  inward  peace  with  the  price  of  a 
laborious  obedience.  God  in  His  infinite  grace  had 
anticipated  his  action.  Like  the  father  in  the  Parable  of 
the  Lost  Son,  He  had  gone  to  meet  him  while  still  far  off. 
He  had  plied  him  with  love  and  mercy ;  He  had  offered 
him  the  gift  of  new  life.  He  had  shown  Himself  on  the 
side  of  frail  human  nature,  appealing  to  men  to  enter  His 
fellowship  through  Jesus  Christ. 

Here  is  a  complete  revolution  in  eschatology.  We  shall 
have  to  examine  its  implications  in  the  case  of  many  of 
Paul's  fundamental  ideas.  Meanwhile  let  us  note  its 
general  bearings.  It  is  easy  to  show  how  much  of  the 
eschatological  apparatus  of  Judaism  Paul  retained  as  a 
Christian  apostle.  In  his  earliest  Letters  he  portrays  the 
Second  Advent  of  Christ  in  typically  Jewish  colours.  Its 
accompaniments  are  the  shouts  of  archangels  and  the 
sounding  of  trumpets.  It  is  the  signal  of  doom  for  those 
who  refuse  to  listen  to  the  Gospel  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  Those 
who  have  fallen  asleep  in  Christ  shall  rise  from  their  graves 

'   1  Thess.  i.  10. 


78  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft.  :. 

to  meet  Him.1  In  later  documents  he  employs  the  same 
type  of  imagery.  In  depicting  the  consummation  of  the 
Kingdom  of  God,  he  sketches,  though  with  great  restraint, 
the  sequence  of  events  at  the  Parousia.  After  the  resur- 
rection of  His  followers,  Christ  abolishes  all  opposing  forces, 
and  among  these  Paul  includes  the  vast  hierarchy  of  evil 
powers  who  enslave  human  destiny  and  contest  the 
supremacy  of  God  over  men.  Death  itself  is  annihilated, 
and  finally  the  Son  delivers  up  the  Kingdom  to  the  Father, 
'  that  God  may  be  all  in  all.'  In  the  resurrection  flesh  and 
blood  shall  have  no  part.  Both  living  and  dead  will  be 
clothed  with  an  incorruptible  spiritual  organism,  '  in  a 
moment,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  at  the  last  trumpet- 
call.'  2  In  a  passage  of  extraordinary  intimacy,  Paul 
reveals  his  eagerness  to  exchange  '  this  earthly  tent '  for 
his  '  heavenly  habitation,'  and  his  dread  of  being  '  naked  ' 
at  the  hour  of  death.3  The  language  and  imagery  which 
he  uses  have  numerous  parallels  both  in  the  prophets  and 
the  apocalypses,  as  well  as  in  the  apocalyptic  discourses  of 
Jesus.  We  have  already  noted  what  strong  emphasis  he 
lays  upon  the  future  Judgment,  and  how  he  urges  the 
nearness  of  the  Parousia  as  a  motive  for  self-discipline 
and  watchfulness  of  life.  Apart  altogether  from  traditional 
pictures  of  the  Last  Things,  which  are  strangely  persistent 
in  all  religions  even  after  the  beliefs  which  they  originally 
embodied  have  begun  to  fade,  there  remains  a  genuinely 
eschatological  strain  in  Paul's  religious  outlook.  He 
yearns  for  the  consummation  of  God's  dominion  over  men 
and  the  universe.  He  yearns  for  the  extirpation  of  all  the 
forces  of  evil,  which  he  conceives  as  an  army  of  spirits 
mustered  under  '  the  ruler  of  the  power  of  the  air,  the  spirit 
which  is  at  present  working  in  the  sons  of  disobedience.'  4 
He  longs  for  the  spiritual  attainment  which  will  be  the 
outcome  of  liberation  from  the  trammels  of  a  body  of  flesh. 
For  him  the  future  means  perfect  conformity  to  the  image 

1    I  Them.  iv.  16-17;  2  These,  i.  7-10. 

*    I  Cor.   iv.   22  28,  60-62.  s    2  Cur.   \.    I    I 

4    Bph.  ii    2  ;    cf.  Col.  i.   13,  Kph.  vi.  12. 


ch.  iv.]     INFLUENCE  OF  ST.  PAUL'S  CONVERSION  79 

of  Christ :  participation  in  that  '  glory  '  which  constitutes 
the  Divine  essence.  And  so  when  he  deals  with  Justification 
he  invariably  keeps  in  view  the  final  stage,  when  his  salva- 
tion will  be  completed.  Indeed,  no  more  typical  statement 
of  the  Pauline  position  could  be  cited  than  that  of  Gal.  v.  5 : 
1  We  by  the  Spirit  as  the  result  of  faith  eagerly  expect  the 
righteousness  we  hope  for.'  But  while  all  this  is  true,  we 
must  assign  its  proper  place  to  the  complementary  aspect 
of  Paul's  religious  thought.  The  future  has,  in  a  very  real 
sense,  become  present.  Fundamentally,  that  which  it  has 
to  offer  is  given  already  in  Christ  to  the  trustful  heart. 
In  principle  the  Christian  has  begun  to  participate  in  his 
glorious  heritage.  Already  he  possesses  the  love  of  God 
which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  his  Lord,  and  nothing  shall  ever  be 
able  to  rob  him  of  his  priceless  possession.1  This  conscious- 
ness that  he  had  virtually  entered  upon  the  coming  Age  of 
apocalyptic  expectation  meant  an  entire  readjustment  of 
the  older  Hope,  and  marked  off  Paul's  outlook  from  that 
of  Jewish  Messianism.  In  a  real  sense,  the  Messianic  rule 
was  present,  attested  by  signs  and  wonders  and  all  the 
gifts  of  the  Spirit.  The  new  condition  could  not  be  com- 
pared to  the  old.  The  resurrection  and  exaltation  of  Jesus 
were  the  proof  that  the  *  rulers  of  this  world  had  been 
vanquished.'  Believers  might  still  appear  a  feeble  folk 
in  the  midst  of  '  a  crooked  and  perverse  generation,'  but 
their  light  was  visible  in  the  surrounding  darkness.2  The 
whole  creation  was  eagerly  waiting  for  the  complete 
revelation  of  the  sons  of  God.  When  Christ,  who  was  their 
life,  should  appear,  they  also  would  appear  with  Him  in 
glory.3 

Perhaps  enough  has  been  said  to  bring  out  the  unique 
character  of  Paul's  conception  of  Jesus  as  Messiah.  And  it 
certainly  refuses  to  tally  with  some  theories  much  in  vogue 
at  the  present  time.  Prominent  scholars  like  Wrede, 
J.  Weiss,  and  others  have  argued  that  the  foundation  of 
Paul's  Christology  is  to  be  found  in  his  pre-Christian  view 
of  Messiah.  Taking  their  stand  mainly  upon  the  apocalyptic 

1  Rom.  viii.  35-39.  *  Phil.  ii.  15.  8  Col.  iii.  4. 


THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  111  i    rLES  [it.  i. 

pictures  in   1   Enoch1  and  4  Ezra,2  they   hold   that  the 

heavenly  being  there  portrayed,  to  whom  was  committed 
the  function  of  judgment,  may  be  regarded  as  representing 
the  current  Messianic  doctrine  of  Judaism.3  But  the 
evidence  is  highly  conflicting.  In  the  Psalms  of  Solomon, 
a  Jewish  work  of  the  first  century  B.C.,  and  also  a  product 
of  the  Pharisaic  party,  there  is  no  trace  of  such  a  con- 
ception. It  adheres  to  the  common  view  that  the  Messiah 
should  be  a  prince  of  the  house  of  David.4  There  is  no 
proof  that  the  other  notion  was  widely  diffused.  Mr. 
G.  H.  Box  refers  it  to  some  '  probably  small  apocalyptic 
circles,'  while  '  the  orthodox  Rabbinic  view  .  .  .  accepts  an 
earthly  national  Messiah,  the  son  of  David,  and  sometimes 
afijrms  for  him  an  earthly  pre-existence  {e.g.  that  he  has 
already  been  born  but  is  in  concealment,  awaiting  the  time 
of  his  manifestation).'  5  Paul's  actual  language  seems  to 
coincide,  as  we  might  expect,  with  the  usual  Rabbinic 
position,  for  in  Rom.  i.  3  ft*.,  when  describing  the  Son  of  God, 
who  is  the  subject  of  his  Gospel,  he  emphasises  His  Davidic 
descent,  omitting  all  mention  of  heavenly  origin,  and 
pointing  to  His  exaltation  as  the  decisive  moment  in  His 
Messianic  career.  There  are,  of  course,  important  passages 
which  refer  to  His  pre-existence.  But  it  is  not  necessary 
to  find  the  origin  of  the  idea  in  that  strain  of  Jewish 
apocalyptic  tradition  which  may  plausibly  be  referred  back 
to  the  early  myth  of  the  '  archetypal  Man.'  Pre-existence, 
in  some  sense,  must  belong  to  One  who  is  placed  on  the 
side  of  Deity.  The  artificial  nature  of  the  attempted 
analysis  of  Paul's  Christology  appears  from  the  fact  that 
the  keenest  advocates  of  this  view  declare  the  whole  period 
from  the  Incarnation  to  the  Parousia  to  be  a  mere  episode 
for  Paul's  mind.6  Such  a  hypothesis,  even  in  the  light  of  the 
facts  already  examined,  is  scarcely  worthy  of  refutation. 
But  while  Paul  has  not  constructed  his  Christology  on 

1    I     ii.  chapt<  l     -lvi..  xlviii.,  l:<ii.  ■   Chap.   xiii. 

■  E.g.  Wiv'i-',  Paulue,  p.  so  f.  ;    Briiokner,  L>ie  EntsUhung  d.  pauHn. 
.  '  'hriatus,  p.  18  f. 

*  See  r*89.  of  Solomon,  rvii.,  xviii. 

*  The  Ezra  .  1 i>  tcalyptt .  p. 

*  1  b  ■  applj  to  .J.  Wt 


ch.  iv.]     INFLUEIsXE  OF  ST.  PAUL'S  CONVERSION  81 

these    mechanical    lines,    its    super-human    implications 
appear  in  his  frequent  use  of  the  designation,  Son  of  God. 
We  might  naturally  be  disposed  to  look  for  the  root  of 
the  idea  in  the  Old  Testament.     And  we  know  the  central 
place  occupied  in  early  Christian  thought  by  Ps.  ii.  7  (LXX): 
*  The  Lord  said  to  me,  Thou  art  my  son,  I  have  to-day 
begotten  thee.'     When  it  is  observed  that  the  succeeding 
sentence  of  the  passage  runs  :    '  Ask  of  me,  and  I  will  give 
the  heathen  as  thine  inheritance,'  we  can  easily  realise  the 
force  of  its  appeal  to  Paul.     This  description  of  Messiah 
does  not   stand   alone.     In  Ps.   lxxxix.   28   (LXX)    God 
declares  :    '  I  will  also  make  him  my  first-born,  exalted  in 
presence  of  the  kings  of  the  earth.'     And  Ps.  ex.  3  (LXX), 
where  again  the  '  begetting  '  of  the  chosen  king  is  a  feature, 
was   very  familiar  to   the   primitive   Church.     The   title 
'  Son  '  appears  also  in  several  apocalypses  as  ajDplied  to 
the  Messiah  of  God.     This  usage  has  obviously  an  official 
character.     To  be  the  chosen  of  God  is  to  stand  towards 
Him  in  a  special  relation.     It  may  be  legitimate  to  refer  for 
a  parallel  to  the  ancient  Oriental  designation  of  kings  as 
'  sons  '  of  God.1     But  the  comparison  does  not  shed  much 
light  on  Paul's  conception.     A  remarkable  affinity  is  dis- 
cernible between  the  Old  Testament  Messianic  application 
of  the  title  and  such  statements  of  Paul  as  Rom.  i.  3,  4: 
'  His  son,  born  of  the  seed  of  David  by  natural  descent,  and 
installed  as  Son  of  God  with  power  in  virtue  of  the  Spirit 
of  holiness  as  the  result  of  resurrection  from  the  dead.' 
Here  the  installation  as  Son  of  God  with  power  is  directly 
equivalent  to   the   '  supreme  exaltation  '   of  which   Paul 
speaks  in  Phil.  ii.  9  as  bestowed  upon  Christ  by  God  as 
the  result  of  His  humiliation.     There  is  an  enhancing  of 
His  position  in  the  universe.     He  is  henceforth   '  Lord,' 
with  a  right  to  universal  dominion  and  universal  adoration. 
Of  special  value  for  the  comprehension  of  Paul's  idea  is  his 
description  of  Christ  as  '  the  image  of  the  invisible  God, 
the  first-born  of  the  whole  creation.'  2     Here,  unquestion- 
ably, he  has  in  view  what  must  be  called  a  '  metaphysical  ' 

1  See  J.  Weisfl,  Christus    pp.   19-21.  2  Col.  i.  15  ;    cf.  Heb.  i.  3. 


82  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft.  I. 

relationship.  It  represents  something  more  than  perfect 
mutual  understanding,  completely  reciprocated  love.  But 
even  in  the  incidental  references  found  in  the  Synoptic  Gos- 
pels to  the  unique  relation  between  Jesus  and  His  Father, 
while  we  may  be  content  with  formulating  it  in  ethical 
terms,  we  are  all  the  time  conscious  that  reflection  cannot 
stop  there,  although  it  has  no  instrument  adequate  to 
interpret  the  phenomena. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  Paul  does  not  speculate  in  this 
mysterious  realm.  To  trace  his  use  of  the  title  '  Son  of 
God  '  to  a  mythological  tradition  which  had  come  down 
from  polytheistic  religions,  but  had  been  gradually  purged 
of  its  mythological  character  by  monotheistic  influence  and 
philosophical  abstraction,  is  altogether  gratuitous.1  It  does 
not,  indeed,  seem  enough  to  say,  with  Weinel,  that  our 
phrase,  '  Son,'  following  a  common  Semitic  usage,  merely 
denotes  '  belonging  to.'  2  We  believe  that  here,  as  else- 
where, Paul's  religious  experience  lies  in  the  background. 
The  wonderful  Person  who  had  laid  hold  of  him  so  graciously 
and  transfigured  his  whole  being  must  belong  to  a  sphere 
above  humanity.  The  Christian  tradition  had  probably 
already  associated  the  term  '  Son '  with  Jesus'  self -conscious- 
ness. Its  use  accorded  with  the  apostle's  strict  mono- 
theism. He  never  called  Jesus  God.  '  Son  of  God ' 
assigns  Him  to  His  proper  sphere  of  being.  Without 
speculative  attempts  at  definition,  it  suggests  His  oneness 
with  the  Father.3 

(d)  The  Lord 

Johannes  Weiss  remarks  with  truth  that '  early-Christian 
religion  is  contained  in  germ  in  the  formula,  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.'  4  We  cannot  precisely  determine  how  the 
title  '  Lord  '  came  into  currency.     In  Acts  ii.  36  Peter  is 

1  See  J.  Weiss,  Christus,  pp.  36,  37. 

•  Paulue,  p.  251.     He  compares  Matt.  xii.  27,  viii.  12,  xiii.  38,  etc. 

*  BouMfiet  is  Inclined  to  think  t hut  the  phrase  was  a  creation  of  Paul's 
own,  the  product  of  religious  reflet  tion  rather  thnn  of  the  worship  of  th<j 
Church  {Kyrioa  Ghrirtni,  pp.  181,  182).  The  evidence  of  the  Byaopticfl 
even  when  estimated  critically,  seems  to  favour  the  view  in  the  text. 

«  Chriatu$,  p.  24. 


ch.  iv.]    INFLUENCE  OF  ST.  PAUL'S  CONVERSION  83 

reported  as  saying,  '  Let  all  the  house  of  Israel  know  that 
God  made  him  both  Lord  and  Christ,  this  Jesus  whom  you 
crucified.'  Plainly  the  title  is  here  connected  with  His 
exaltation,  and  that  idea  seems  always  to  lie  in  the  back- 
ground of  its  use.  The  writer  of  Acts  links  it  with  a  famous 
Messianic  passage,  Ps.  ex.  1  :  '  The  Lord  said  to  my  Lord, 
Sit  on  my  right  hand,  until  I  make  thine  enemies  a  footstool 
for  thy  feet.'  And  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  this 
passage  was  a  most  important  factor  in  the  formation  of 
the  usage.  But  for  Paul  at  least  it  is  far  more  than  a 
synonym  for  Messiah.  Possibly  the  same  thing  is  true 
for  the  early  Church  as  a  whole.  It  is  certainly  significant 
that  the  translators  of  the  LXX,  in  all  likelihood  Egyptian 
Jews,  rendered  the  Old  Testament  '  Jahweh  '  by  Kvptos, 
'  Lord.'  No  doubt  in  so  doing  they  were  influenced  by  the 
fact  that  in  the  Hebrew  text  of  the  Old  Testament  the 
Tetragrammaton  was  pronounced  as  Adonai,  a  Semitic 
title  of  deity  which  was  a  more  or  less  accurate  equivalent 
of  Kiynos.  In  any  case,  their  action  gave  the  claims 
of  the  God  of  Israel  a  world-wide  bearing.1  For  the 
peoples  of  the  Hellenistic  epoch  were  familiar  with  the 
Divine  significance  of  Kvpios.  It  was  a  typically  Oriental 
title.  It  was  constantly  used  of  characteristically  Oriental 
deities,  such  as  the  Egyptian  Isis,  Osiris,  and  Serapis.2  In 
the  first  century  it  was  quickly  taking  its  place  as  the 
designation  of  the  deified  Emperor,  and  thus  becoming  the 
central  term  of  the  Imperial  cult.3  Its  application  to 
Christ  was  all  the  more  significant  from  its  Hellenistic  at- 
mosphere, and  especially  from  its  intimate  association  with 
the  cult  of  the  Caesars.  The  impression  which  it  made 
upon  heathen -Christians  is  strikingly  brought  out  by  a 
passage  in  the  Acts  of  the  Scillitan  Martyrs  (1-2),4  where 
Speratus  contrasts  Christ  as  imperator  noster  ('  our  Em- 
peror ')  with   the   dominus   noster  imperator    ('  our    Lord 

1  See  Deissmann,  Die  Hellenisierung  d.  semitisehen  Monotheismus,  p.  14. 

2  See  Bousset,  op.  cit.,  p.  118. 

3  See  the  examples  sub  voce  Kvptos  in  Dittenberger's  Orientis  Oraecae 
Inacriptiones  Selectae. 

*  Quoted  by  Lietzmann  on  Roin.  x.  9. 


Si  THE  THEOLOGt  OF  THE  EP]  [pt.  l 

the  Emperor  ')  of  the  Roman  proconsul,  and  another  (6) 
in  which  he  declares  :  '  I  refuse  to  acknowledge  the  Empire 
of  this  world  ...  I  acknowledge  my  Lord  who  is  Emperor 
of  the  kings  of  all  nations.' 

Possibly  Hellenistic  practice  as  well  as  the  usage  of  the 
LXX  had  some  influence  in  the  regular  ascription  of  the 
term  '  Lord  '  to  the  exalted  Christ.  Yet  the  appearance  of 
the  Aramaic  formula  Mar  an  at/ia,  '  Lord  come  '  (1  Cor. 
xvi.  22).  forbids  us  to  distinguish  between  Palestinian  and 
Hellenistic  Christianity  in  regard  to  the  use  of  Ki'pios.1 
The  same  consideration  prevents  us  from  accepting  Bousset's 
hypothesis  that  Kvpios,  as  applied  to  Jesus,  means  prim- 
arily *  the  Lord  who  presides  over  the  community-life  of 
Christians,  as  that  life  is  unfolded  in  the  public  worship  of 
the  Church,  i.e.  in  the  cult.'  2  Perhaps  this  conception 
may  have  formed  an  element  in  the  situation.  Pull  force 
must  be  assigned  to  such  important  phrases  as  '  calling 
upon  the  name  of  the  Lord,'  3  which  may  be  taken  as  a 
brief  description  of  Christians,  and  referred  to  the  attitude 
of  the  community  assembled  for  worship.  But  the  personal 
relationship  involved  in  the  designation  must  be  placed  in 
the  forefront  by  any  careful  student  of  Paul.  Here  the 
influence  of  the  Old  Testament  becomes  apparent.  Passages 
like  Ps.  cxvi.  17  (LXX),  k  O  Lord  (Kvpios),  I  am  thy  bond 
servant  (Soi'Aos),'  give  a  partial  clue  to  Paul's  standpoint. 
Corresponding  to  the  position  of  Jesus  as  Lord  is  his  own 
as  devoted  slave.  Again  and  again  he  calls  himself  by  this 
name.4  It  is  no  conventional  description,  but  suggests 
how  large  and  profound  is  the  relationship  between  his 
Lord  and  himself,  It  implies  surrender,  obedience,  rever- 
ence, trust,  grateful  love.  Accordingly,  whether  Paul  was 
indebted  to  the  Christian  community  for  this  concent  ion 
or  not,  he  has,  at  least,  made  it  completely  his  own.  He 
,i  as  fche  vehicle  for  expressing  whal  he  feejs  aboul 

■  ,i.t  to  re  tricl  the  form  ila  to  Antiochene  Christianity 
[pp.  <  3)  is  quite  uncom  inoing. 

.  i.  SI. 
*  S.g.  Rom.       I      U&l.  i.   10. 


ch.  iv.j    INFLUENCE  OF  ST.  PAUL'S  CONVERSION  85 

Christ.  And  the  feeling  is  the  direct  transcript  of  his 
conversion-experience.  Christ  is  for  the  apostle  pre- 
eminentty  '  my  Lord.' *  So  that  with  equal  right  we  may 
derive  its  cult-association  from  its  personal  significance. 
This  is  evident  from  statements  found  in  Paul's  Letters. 
Thus,  in  1  Cor.  xii.  3,  he  declares  :  '  No  one  can  say 
Jesus  is  Lord  but  by  the  Holy  Spirit.'  Here  is  a  process  of 
transition  from  the  personal  to  the  public  confession. 
Yet,  however  fundamental  the  ascription  of  lordship  to 
Jesus  may  be  for  the  life  of  the  community,  it  must  have 
its  roots  in  the  inward  discovery  of  the  soul.  In  Paul's 
case,  that  has  as  its  issue  union  with  the  living  and  exalted 
Lord. 

But  the  idea  of  exaltation  in  Paul's  use  of  the  title  must 
be  specially  emphasised.  It  was  as  the  exalted  One  that 
Christ  revealed  Himself  to  the  Pharisee.  And  that  note 
may  always  be  heard  when  Paul  speaks  of  Him  as  Lord. 
The  most  important  material  for  the  elucidation  of  this 
conception  is  found  in  Phil.  ii.  9,  10 :  '  Wherefore  (i.e. 
as  the  issue  of  His  lowly  self-renunciation)  God  highly 
exalted  him  and  gave  him  the  name  which  is  above  every 
name,  that  in  the  name  of  Jesus  every  knee  should  bow, 
of  things  in  heaven  and  things  on  earth  and  things  under  the 
earth,  and  that  every  tongue  should  confess  that  Jesus 
Christ  is  Lord,  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father.'  Plainly, 
in  this  passage,  the  '  name  above  every  name '  is  that  of 
'  Lord.'  What  this  meant  for  a  devout  Hellenistic  Jew 
may  be  inferred  from  such  Old  Testament  declarations  as 
Isa.  xlii.  8  (LXX)  :  '  I  am  the  Lord  (Kvpios  o  0eos),  this 
is  my  name.'  And  the  background  of  Paul's  thought  in 
the  passage  quoted  appears  in  Isa.  xlv.  23  (LXX)  :  '  I 
swear  by  myself  .  .  .  my  words  shall  not  be  turned 
away,  that  to  me  every  knee  shall  bow,  and  every  tongue 
shall  swear  (some  good  authorities  read  '  confess ')  by 
God  '  (an  excellent  authority  reads  '  the  Lord  ').  As  in 
the  case  of  the  designation  'Son  of  God,'  Paul,  in  this 
affirmation  of  His  lordship,  deliberately  assigns  Jesus  to 

1  Phil.  lii.  8. 


86  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  i. 

the  sphere  of  the  Divine.  Apart  from  the  judgment  of 
the  Christian  community  which  he  has  entered,  he  makes 
this  ascription  as  the  result  of  his  personal  experience. 
It  is  scarcely  needful  to  point  out  that  for  ancient  thought 
the  giving  of  a  name  carried  with  it  the  imparting  of  all 
the  name  stood  for.  The  Old  Testament  use  of  '  Lord ' 
implies  the  right  to  universal  worship  and  dominion :  that 
which  is  due  to  Jahweh.  With  all  these  considerations 
before  his  mind,  Paul  does  not  hesitate  to  call  Christ  the 
Lord.  But  it  is  instructive  to  notice  that  the  final  goal 
of  the  lordship  of  Christ  is  '  the  glory  of  God  the  Father.' 
Paul  never  deserts  his  monotheistic  position.  And  perhaps 
J.  Weiss  is  justified  in  suggesting  *  that  he  welcomed  the 
possibility  of  using  the  term  '  Lord,'  which  for  him  ex- 
presses Christ's  position  of  equality  with  God  in  the  eyes 
of  men  and  His  right  to  universal  adoration,  while,  at  the 
same  time,  the  name  of  '  God  '  is  reserved  for  the  Fathei 
to  whom  even  Christ  shall  one  day  deliver  up  His  dominion, 
'  that  God  may  be  all  in  all.'  2 

(c)  The  Spirit 

In  the  most  explicit  account  of  his  conversion  which 
Paul  gives  in  his  Epistles,  he  speaks  of  the  gracious  purpose 
of  God  to  reveal  His  Son  '  in  me.'  3  Whatever  may  have 
been  the  objective  circumstances  of  the  revelation,  the 
permanent  gain  for  the  apostle  is  something  spiritual,  the 
fellowship  of  his  spirit  with  the  Divine  life  in  Jesus  Christ. 
Hence  he  can  describe  Him  as  '  life-creating  spirit.' 4  And 
the  gift  of  new  life  or  power  is  for  him  the  supreme  token 
of  God's  operation  in  his  personal  experience.  So  from  this 
time  forward  the  decisive  criterion  for  the  Christian  life 
is  the  reception  of  the  Spirit.  When  he  desires  to  bring 
his  erring  Galatian  converts  to  the  touchstone  of  funda- 
mental realities,  he  asks  them  :  '  This  is  the  only  thing  I 
wish  to  find  out  from  you  :    Did  you  receive  the  Spirit  as 

1   Christua,  p.  26.  »   1  Cor.  xv.  28. 

1  Gal.  i.  16.  *   1  Cor.  xv.  46. 


ch.  iv.]    INFLUENCE  OF  ST.  PAUL'S  CONVERSION  87 

the  result  of  observing  the  Law,  or  was  it  because  of  the 
hearing  which  your  faith  gave  to  the  Gospel  ?  '  1  The  one 
vindication  of  his  preaching  which  he  submits  to  the  in- 
tellectually restless  Corinthians  is  the  '  demonstration  of 
the  Spirit  and  '  f  ower.'  2  How  are  we  to  estimate  this 
standpoint  of  tm.  <  postle  ? 

It  is  noteworthy  that  in  the  earlier  narratives  of  the 
Old  Testament,  phenomena  of  an  abnormal  or  '  demonic  ' 
nature  were  usually  referred  to  the  '  spirit '  or  '  breath ' 
of  God.  Probably  this  explanation  represents  an  advance 
on  some  primitive  animistic  theory.  Thus,  Samson's 
extraordinary  physical  strength  (Judges  xiv.  6)  and  the 
technical  skill  of  Bezaleel  the  artificer  of  the  Tabernacle 
(Exod.  xxxv.  30,  31)  are  ascribed  to  the  Spirit  of  God. 
As  might  be  expected,  a  similar  origin  is  presupposed  for 
the  ecstatic  experiences  of  both  earlier  and  later  prophecy. 
The  former  were  apparently  more  physical  than  spiritual 
in  character  (see,  e.g.,  1  Sam.  x.  10).  This,  possibly, 
was  the  reason  why  famous  prophets  like  Isaiah  and 
Jeremiah  did  not  associate  their  prophetic  utterances  with 
the  '  Spirit '  of  God.  The  idea  may  still  have  borne  traces 
of  its  more  primitive  unethical  features.  In  the  case  of 
Ezekiel,  however,  whose  career  gives  evidence  of  a  marked 
pathological  element,  the  conception  of  the  Spirit  of  God 
comes  into  prominence  (e.g.  ch.  xi.  1,  5,  24),  although  he 
also  more  frequently  speaks  of  the  '  hand '  of  the  Lord. 
In  a  few  places,  endowment  with  the  Spirit  is  associated 
with  special  service  in  God's  Kingdom  (e.g.  Isa.  xi.  2),  and 
occasionally  its  value  is  emphasised  for  the  needs  of  the 
religious  life  (e.g.  Ps.  li.  11  ;  cxliii.  10).  In  the  Wisdom- 
literature  of  Israel,  its  place  is  taken  by  the  semi- 
personalised  conception  of  Wisdom,  represented  as  God's 
instrument  in  creation  and  the  channel  of  Divine  energy 
to  the  universe.  The  relation  of  the  two  allied  conceptions 
will  meet  us  again  when  we  examine  Paul's  view  of  the 
cosmic  significance  of  Christ.  In  Rabbinic  theology,  the 
'  Spirit  of  holiness  '  is  the  equipment  of  specially  gifted 

1  Gal.  iii.  2.  -   1  Cor.  li.  4. 


88  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  1ft.  i. 

teachers.  Of  more  importance  for  our  purpose  is  the 
eschatological  expectation  that  the  Messianic  Age  should 
be  marked  by  an  extraordinary  visitation  of  the  Spirit 
(e.g.  Joel  ii.  28,  29).  It  is  plain  from  the  early  chapters  of 
Acts  that  this  expectation  took  a  pre-eminent  place  in 
primitive  Christian  thought.  We  are  unable  to  determine 
to  what  extent  it  was  due  to  the  teaching  of  Jesus.  The 
evidence  of  the  Synoptic  Gospels  does  not  suggest  that 
Jesus  emphasised  the  idea  of  the  Spirit.  In  one  or  two 
places  the  term  appears  to  have  been  substituted  in  the 
tradition  for  a  more  general  expression.  The  statements  of 
the  Fourth  Gospel  presuppose  Paul  as  well  as  the  very 
unique  interpretation  of  Jesus  which  is  there  embodied. 
In  any  case,  the  extraordinary  ferment  of  spiritual  power 
and  enthusiasm  which  prevailed  among  the  Christians  of 
the  early  Apostolic  Age  was  associated  with  that  outpouring 
of  the  Spirit  which  was  believed  to  usher  in  the  Messianic 
Era.  We  must  consider  in  the  next  chapter  in  what 
measure  Paul  was  affected  by  the  conception  current  in  the 
Church. 

The  most  important  feature  of  his  own  conception  of  the 
Spirit  is  its  relation  to  Christ.  The  risen  Lord  who  appeared 
to  him  was  essentially  '  Spirit.'  The  result  of  this  revela- 
tion was  for  him,  above  all  else,  a  new  consciousness  of 
spiritual  power — power  able  to  achieve  undreamed-of 
moral  effects.  In  the  primitive  community  the  fresh 
quickening  of  spiritual  life  was  vaguely  associated  with 
the  Spirit.  In  Paul's  case  the  idea  was  far  more  concrete 
and  personal.  The  Spirit  as  experienced  by  him  was  the 
Spirit  of  Christ.  This  was  central  for  Paul's  Christianity 
'  If  any  one  have  not  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  he  does  not  belong 
to  him.'  1  Yet  we  must  not  narrow  his  conception,  for  in 
the  preceding  clause  of  the  passage  quoted  he  has  spoken 
of  the  '  Spirit  of  God  '  as  '  dwelling  in  you.'  A  few  sentences 
later  he  describes  the  new  life  of  the  Christians  as  due  to 
'the  Spirit  of  him  that  raised  Jesus  from  the  dead.'1 
Nor   js   this   all.     [nterohangeable   with    t lie   idea  of   the 

1  Rom.  viii.  9b.  '  Rom.  viii.  11. 


oh.  iv. J    INFLUENCE  OF  ST.  PAUL'S  CONVERSION  89 

Spirit  of  Christ  or  the  Spirit  dwelling  in  the  believer  is 
that  of  the  believer  as  being  '  in  Christ '  or  '  in  the  Spirit.'  * 

The  usages  we  have  examined  prepare  us  for  Paul's 
remarkable  identification  of  Christ  with  the  Spirit  :  '  Now 
the  Lord  is  the  Spirit.'  2  Yet  the  clause  which  follows 
puts  us  on  our  guard  against  a  too  literal  interpretation, 
for  it  runs  :  '  and  where  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is,  there  is 
liberty.'  Paul,  in  other  words,  leaves  a  fluctuating  margin 
between  his  conception  of  Christ  and  the  Spirit.  He  was 
convinced  that  in  the  crisis  on  the  road  to  Damascus  he 
had  come  into  touch  with  a  living  Person,  but  that  Person 
belonged  to  the  sphere  of  the  Spirit.  His  essential  being 
was  Divine  Spirit.  The  result  of  Paul's  contact  was 
experience  of  transforming  power.  When  he  thinks 
especially  of  this  power,  he  speaks  of  the  Spirit.  When 
he  dwells  on  the  source  of  his  new  energy,  he  speaks  of 
Christ.  But  always  that  fellowship  with  Christ  which 
presupposes  a  living  faith  is  the  condition  of  the  Spirit's 
indwelling.  The  Spirit  is,  indeed,  the  Divine  response  to 
the  faith  of  the  Christian. 

We  do  not  stay  to  deal  with  Bousset's  theory  that  it  is 
not  the  Christ  who  appeared  to  Paul  at  his  conversion 
whom  he  identifies  with  the  Spirit,  but  the  '  Lord ' 
(Kvpios),  worshipped  in  the  services  of  the  Christian  com- 
munity.3 H  there  is  anything  which  distinguishes  Paul's 
conception  it  is  its  personal  character.  The  Divine  power 
which  has  laid  hold  of  him  and  now  operates  through  him 
is  no  vague  world-soul,  but  is  definitely  individualised. 
Of  course,  in  dealing  with  so  impalpable  a  reality  as 
spirit,  his  language  is  bound  to  fluctuate.  Thus,  when  he 
attempts  to  determine  the  relation  of  the  Divine  energy 
to  the  human  personality  which  it  quickens,  it  is  neces- 
sarily impossible  to  divide  the  ground  between  the  Divine 
and  the  human.  But  in  the  great  majority  of  instances  in 
which  he  uses  '  spirit '  (irvevpa),  he  thinks  of  the  Spirit  of 
God  (or  of  Christ)  as  dwelling  in  the  Christian,  or  of  the 

1  E.g.  2  Cor.  v.  17  ;    Roui.  viii.  9. 

8   2  Cur.  iii.  17.  *  Op.  '.it.,  p.  145. 


90  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  i. 

inner  life  of  the  Christian  as  recreated  by  the  Spirit.  It 
is  true  that  there  are  about  a  dozen  cases  in  which  Paul 
applies  this  term  to  the  inner  life  apart  from  the  influence 
of  the  Divine  Spirit.  In  this  usage  he  follows  that  of  the 
Old  Testament.  For  in  some  post-exilic  passages  '  spirit '  is 
used  as  a  synonym  for  '  soul.'  l  But  that  does  not  alter 
the  fact  that  when  Paul  speaks  of  the  Spirit,  he  has  in 
view  either  the  energy  of  God  (or  of  Christ),  acting  upon 
human  nature,  or  human  nature  as  renewed  by  such  Divine 
action. 

The  extraordinary  significance  for  Paul  of  his  contact 
with  Christ  as  spirit  lies  in  the  conviction  that  he  was  now 
moving  among  the  forces  of  the  coming  age,  the  age  of 
final  redemption.  His  hope  of  the  consummation  of  God's 
saving  purpose,  his  assurance  that  God  would  complete 
what  he  had  begun,  was  powerfully  confirmed  by  this 
experience  of  vital  power.  The  great  promises  of  the 
Messianic  epoch  were  actually  beginning  to  take  shape. 
The  Spirit  was  God's  pledge  of  coming  blessedness.2  It 
was  the  first-fruits  of  the  splendid  harvest  which  awaited 
believers.3  By  its  agency  the  love  of  God  was  shed  abroad 
in  men's  hearts,  as  Paul's  own  experience  could  testify. 
Its  presence,  as  known  and  felt,  was  the  evidence  that  its 
possessors  were  '  children  '  of  God.4  For  the  Spirit  dis- 
closed to  the  receptive  nature  a  new  view  of  God.  It 
taught  men  to  cry  '  Abba,  Father.'  5  In  this  experience 
Paul  found  a  wonderful  corroboration  of  his  conviction  of 
Christ  as  working  through  the  Spirit.  For  it  was  the 
Spirit  of  God's  Son  which  had  been  sent  forth  into  their 
hearts.6 

In  a  later  section  we  must  investigate  the  relation  of 
the  Spirit  to  the  moral  life  of  the  Christian.  Meanwhile 
it  ought  to  be  noted  that  Paul's  personal  experience 
exercised  an  epoch-making  influence  upon  the  conception 
of  the  Spirit  in  the  early  Church.  We  can  easily  gather, 
not  only  from  Acts,  but  from  Paul's  own  Epistles,  that 

1  See  p.  37,  aupra.  -  2  Cor.  i.  22. 

3  Rorn.  viii.  23.  «  Rom.  viii.  16 

6  Rom.  viii.  15.  •  Gal.  iv.  8. 


ch.  iv.  j    INFLUENCE  OF  ST.  PAUL'S  CONVERSION  91 

the  consciousness  of  the  Spirit  was  associated  with  abnormal 
manifestations,  such  as  '  speaking  with  tongues,'  '  prophe- 
sying,' etc.  There  was  grave  danger  lest  the  spiritual 
enthusiasm  of  the  Christian  community  should  evaporate 
in  mere  fitful  and  unprofitable  emotion.  Paul  recognised 
the  peril.  With  a  firm  grasp  of  the  true  value  of  equip- 
ment with  the  Spirit,  he  saw  the  necessity  of  self-control 
and  discipline  in  giving  play  to  this  wonderful  energy. 
From  him  the  immature  communities  learnt  once  for  all 
that  the  genuine  action  of  the  Spirit  is  not  spasmodic  or 
eccentric  :  that  it  is  a  power  for  worthy  living.  For  those 
who  assimilated  the  apostle's  teaching,  the  Spirit  became 
the  normal  principle  of  Christian  life  and  conduct. 


(/)  The  New  Attitude  to  God 

A  recent  investigator  of  Paulinism  has  justly  said  that 
for  Paul  God  was  first  and  chiefly  the  Father  of  Jesus 
Christ.  The  statement  reveals  at  a  glance  the  revolution 
accomplished  in  his  religious  thought  and  experience.  The 
significance  of  that  revolution  may  be  expressed  by  a 
suggestive  modern  phrase,  '  the  Christlikeness  of  God.' 
From  the  day  of  his  conversion  onwards,  Paul  interpreted 
the  nature  and  purpose  of  God  not  from  the  traditional 
beliefs  of  Judaism,  but  exclusively  in  the  light  of  the 
revelation  of  Christ  to  his  soul.  His  contact  with  Christ 
was  not  an  accident,  nor  was  it  the  fulfilment  of  a  domi- 
nating resolution.  It  was  Divine  from  beginning  to  end. 
God  was  behind  it :  God  was  in  the  heart  of  it.  It  was 
intended  to  alter  the  entire  basis  of  his  religious  life. 

The  first  thing  which  impressed  him  was  that  he  had 
been  made  the  object  of  an  amazing  and  wholly  undeserved 
compassion.  As  he  hurried  on  in  a  career  whose  raison 
d'etre  turned  out  to  be  a  senseless  defiance  of  the  Divine 
purpose,  the  unspeakable  mercy  of  God  had  singled  him 
out,  had  checked  his  folly,  and  illumined  his  soul  with 
a  heavenly  light.  This  unmerited  Divine  tenderness  is 
always  before  his  mind,  and  becomes  one  of  his  watch- 


92  THE  THEOLOGY  05  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  i. 

words  in  the  term  '  grace,'  a  term  which  gets  its  colour  from 
the  crisis  of  his  conversion.  It  is  not  mere  pity  :  that 
seems  too  casual  an  idea  to  the  apostle.  Grace  is  something 
positive,  basal,  essential  to  the  very  character  of  God. 
It  is  Christ  who  has  shown  what  it  means.  Often,  indeed, 
the  grace  of  God  implies  primarily  for  Paul  the  gift  of  His 
Son  Jesus  Christ,  and  since  this  supreme  gift,  in  certain  most 
important  aspects,  cannot  be  separated  from  that  of  the 
Spirit,  grace  frequently  suggests  that  special  working  of 
the  Divine  energy.  But,  in  the  first  instance,  Paul  from 
the  nature  of  the  case  was  profoundly  influenced  by  the 
concrete  form,  if  we  may  so  say,  in  which  the  grace  of 
God  was  expressed.  Christ  was  the  Revealer  of  this  con- 
tent of  the  Divine  nature.  As  the  result  of  the  revelation, 
Paul  never  ceases  to  wonder  at  the  incomparable  Divine 
generosity.  Thus  the  very  circumstances  of  his  conversion 
brought  into  bold  relief  the  fatherly  character  of  God. 

Now  we  need  not  suppose  that  Paul  realised  within  a  few 
days  all  that  was  involved  in  this  transformation  of  his  re- 
ligious life.  And  yet  the  completeness  of  the  transformation 
must  have  led  a  mind  like  his  almost  at  once  to  seek  for 
an  adjustment  between  the  new  experiences  which  flooded 
his  soul.  Hence,  the  conception  of  Jesus,  incarnate  and 
crucified,  as  God's  unspeakable  gift  for  the  sake  of  sinners, 
must  have  soon  taken  a  regulative  place  in  his  efforts  to 
understand  his  wonderful  new  attitude  to  God.  The  very 
revelation  of  Christ  to  him  as  the  Chosen  of  God,  with  all 
the  light  he  could  shed  upon  it  from  what  he  had  already 
learnt  of  Christ's  life  and  activity  and  gospel,  would  in  itself 
almost  immediately  lay  the  foundation  of  his  new  relation- 
ship to  God.  Almost  immediately  he  would  become  aware 
that  the  old  suspicion  and  fear  of  God  as  task-master  and 
judge  had  vanished,  and  an  amazing  vision  of  His  heart, 
which  seemed  too  good  to  be  true,  had  begun  to  flash  upon 
his  soul.  And  then  as  he  meditated  upon  the  cross  and  all 
that  led  up  to  it,  he  reached  the  profound  conclusion  that 
4  God  was  in  Christ  reconciling  the  world  unto  himself.'  l 
•  2  r'>r.  v.  ly, 


ch.  iy.]    INFLUENCE  OF  ST.  PAUL'S  CONVERSION  93 

The  fact  that  the  issue  of  the  crisis  was  a  sense  of  obliga- 
tion to  proclaim  the  message  of  Jesus  to  the  heathen  is 
itself  a  comment  on  the  meaning  of  the  experience  for  Paul. 
It  was  a  surprise  to  discover  the  God  whom  Jesus  revealed. 
For  instead  of  being  struck  down  with  terror  by  the  entrance 
into  his  life  of  a  power  which  he  felt  to  be  distinct  from 
himself,  his  soul  was  filled  with  love  and  joy  and  hope.  He 
had  found  that  it  was  the  good  pleasure  of  God  to  act  on 
different  line's  from  those  which  he  had  all  along  taken  for 
granted.  He  had  striven  to  establish  a  good  record  in  the 
eyes  of  the  All-holy,  striven  with  painful  eagerness  although 
with  no  permanent  satisfaction.  And  now,  in  the  life  which 
burst  upon  him,  he  realised  that  he  had  misunderstood  the 
God  he  was  yearning  to  please.  God's  favour  was  not  to 
be  purchased  by  straining  efforts.  Christ,  crucified  and 
risen,  crucified  for  sheer  love  to  men,  risen  because  that 
love  was  Divine  love,  the  very  index  of  the  heart  of  God — 
the  Christ  who  had  become  manifest  to  him,  was  the  demon- 
stration that  God's  joy  was  to  give  rather  than  to  receive. 
And  the  giving  was  infinitely  lavish.  All  that  he  had 
learnt  of  Christ  convinced  him  that  God  did  not  wait  for 
men  to  approach  Him,  but  that  He  anticipated  them  in  the 
wonder  of  His  grace.  This  had  been  Paul's  own  experience. 
God  had  followed  him  with  the  subtle  influences  of  His 
mercy,  had  in  Christ  laid  hold  of  him  and  mastered  him. 
All  that  was  necessary  on  his  part  was  to  surrender  to  that 
loving  grasp.  To  the  trusting  soul  which  took  God  as  He 
revealed  Himself,  laying  aside  its  prejudices  however  deep- 
rooted  and  long-standing,  to  the  surrendered  fife  God  made 
over  the  wealth  of  His  priceless  gifts.  This  fundamental 
aspect  of  the  new  attitude  to  God  is  what  Paul  calls  Faith. 
It  lies  at  the  heart  of  his  conversion.  In  that  hour  he 
showed  himself  willing  to  be  taken  captive  by  the  Divine 
hand.  His  receptivity  to  the  influences  which  radiated 
from  the  risen  Lord  became  for  him,  as  he  was  well  aware, 
the  channel  of  new  life. 

In  the  history  of  Old  Testament  religion,  faith  had  meant 
tho  belief  that  God  would  fulfil  His  promises  to  His  people. 


94  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft.  I. 

That,  of  course,  was  an  important  factor  in  religious  life, 
and  had  achieved  valuable  results.  Later,  and  especially 
in  Hellenistic  Judaism,  it  denoted  firm  conviction  as  to 
the  actual  existence  of  invisible  things,  above  all  of  God 
Himself.  Both  these  meanings  are  to  be  found  in  the 
Pauline  Epistles,  but  they  are  completely  overshadowed 
by  the  profound  expansion  of  significance  which  the  idea 
of  faith  undergoes  in  PauPs  hands.  For  him  it  is  primarily 
the  complete  response  of  the  soul  to  the  good  news  of  God 
embodied  in  Christ.  That  no  doubt  includes  the  great  acts 
in  which  Christ  has  accomplished  the  Father's  purpose, 
His  incarnation,  His  redeeming  death,  His  resurrection  and 
exaltation  as  Saviour.  But  even  in  these  instances  it  does 
not  merely  signify  assent  to  the  truth  that  such  events  have 
happened.  It  involves  sympathy  with  their  redemptive 
value  and  acceptance  of  the  purpose  of  God  as  disclosed  by 
them.  But  for  Paul  it  chiefly  describes  a  relation  between 
one  person  and  another,  the  grateful  and  reverent  sub- 
mission of  the  entire  inner  nature  to  the  Divine  heart 
whose  love  appeals  to  men  in  Jesus  Christ.  This  relation 
constitutes  the  basis  of  all  those  descriptions  of  the  dealings 
of  God  with  the  soul  which  lead  to  the  new  attitude  on 
which  Paul  has  so  joyously  entered.  We  are  sometimes 
repelled  by  the  technical  ring  of  such  terms  as  justification, 
adoption,  righteousness.  When  we  try  to  analyse  their 
precise  meaning,  we  discover  certain  formal  elements  in 
them,  due  primarily  to  Paul's  environment.  But,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  they  are  all  attempts  from  differing  angles 
of  vision  to  set  forth  the  wonderful  approach  to  God  of 
which  Paul  has  become  conscious.  He  knows  himself  to 
be  on  a  wholly  new  footing  with  the  Almighty.  Probably 
the  description  of  widest  range  which  he  can  give  of  it  is 
Sonship.  He  does  not  use  this  word.  He  calls  the  new 
status  Adoption.  The  atmosphere  of  the  term  comes 
from  his  own  experience.  Men  who  have  wandered  far 
from  God,  and  have  been  guilty  of  all  manner  of  sin  and 
disobedience,  have  utterly  forfeited  their  right  to  any  place 
in  His  family,  that  family  for  which  they  were  destined  in 


ch.  iv.]    INFLUENCE  OF  ST.  PAUL'S  CONVERSION  95 

creation.  But  God,  in  that  infinite  grace  of  His  which  has 
become  manifest  in  Jesus  Christ,  deliberately  invites  them 
to  become  His  children.  He  adopts  them,  makes  them  His 
children  out  of  sheer  goodness,  deals  with  them  as  children, 
lavishes  on  them  all  the  love  that  a  father  can  bestow. 
This  is  not  theory.  Paul  is  sure  that  it  has  happened  in 
his  own  experience.  That  unspeakable  Divine  love  of 
which  Christ  is  the  pledge  has  made  him  heartily  ashamed 
of  his  sin.  He  has  given  himself  to  a  new  bondage,  the 
bondage  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  that  means  peace  with  God. 
The  old  uncertainty  and  fear  have  become  impossible. 
He  has  grasped  the  full  significance  of  the  father's  answer 
in  the  Parable  of  the  Lost  Son  :  '  Son,  thou  art  always  with 
me,  and  all  that  I  have  is  thine.'  That  is  the  focus  of  the 
message  of  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  also  the  clue  to  Paul's  new 
attitude  towards  God. 

Quite  plainly  such  a  standpoint  involves  the  doom  of 
Legalism.  There  is  no  idea  of  bargain  in  such  a  relation- 
ship. There  is  no  suggestion  of  a  quid  pro  quo.  Paul  has 
simply  taken  the  gift  held  out  to  him  in  Jesus  Christ,  the 
gift  of  salvation.  Hence  the  thought  of  earning  some 
reward  from  God  loses  all  relevance.  There  is  no  compari- 
son between  man's  obedience  and  God's  unspeakable  gift. 
Thus  the  apostle  can  say  from  the  depth  of  his  heart : 
'  Christ  is  the  end  of  the  law  to  every  one  who  believes.' 

By  this  new  attitude  to  God  we  are  warned  against  the 
notion  that  the  centre  of  gravity  in  Paul's  religion  was 
eschatology.  We  must  give  all  due  emphasis  to  the  stress 
he  lays  on  the  consummation  of  the  Kingdom  of  God. 
We  must  estimate  at  its  full  value  the  importance  he 
attached  to  that  life  in  a  perfected  spiritual  organism 
which  was  to  begin  with  the  Second  Advent.  We  must 
recognise  the  place  he  assigned  to  a  final  verdict  of  God  at 
the  Judgment,  the  last  word  on  the  destiny  of  individuals. 
We  must  endeavour  to  appreciate  his  yearning  to  get  rid 
of  the  hampering  influence  of  existence  in  the  flesh.  But 
while,  in  one  or  two  instances,  Paul's  sensitive  conscience 
seems  to  tremble  before  the  final  issues  of  life,  the  very  core 


96  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft.  i. 

of  his  religious  position  is  the  certainty  that  he  has  already 
been  received  into  the  realm  of  God's  grace.  He  is  already 
an  heir  of  God.  He  possesses  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  pledge 
and  foretaste  of  the  heritage  of  blessedness  awaiting  him. 
And,  after  all,  this  is  the  most  important  fact  of  his 
religion.  He  can  say  with  unwavering  conviction  :  '  We 
know  that  all  things  work  together  for  good  to  them  that 
love  God,  who  are  the  called  according  to  his  purpose.  .  .  . 
We  are  more  than  conquerors  through  him  that  loved 
us.* l 

1  Horn.  viii.  28,  37. 


ch.  v.]   ST.  PAUL  AND  THE  CHRISTIAN  TRADITION       97 


CHAPTER  V 

ST.   PAUL  AND   THE   CHRISTIAN   TRADITION 

(a)  The  Historical  Jesus 

In  the  famous  passage  in  which  he  speaks  of  his  conversion 
Paul  firmly  emphasises  the  independence  of  his  Gospel 
and  his  apostolic  vocation.  The  shaping  of  his  Christian 
convictions  he  ascribes  directly  to  the  influence  of  the 
risen  Christ  with  whom  he  had  been  brought  in  contact.1 
It  is  impossible  to  regard  any  vital  element  in  his  Christian 
consciousness  as  coming  to  him  at  second-hand.  And  we 
have  tried  to  show  in  the  preceding  section  that  his  experi- 
ence on  the  Damascus  road  was  decisive  for  the  regulative 
features  of  his  new  position.  But  we  must  not  exaggerate 
Paul's  assertions  in  Gal.  i.  For  these  are  made  in  a  con- 
troversy which  is  for  the  apostle  a  matter  of  life  or  death. 
So  he  does  not  pause  to  qualify  them. 

It  has  already  been  pointed  out  that  Paul  the  persecutor 
and  champion  of  the  Pharisaic  ideal  must  have  formed 
certain  definite  impressions  of  the  sect  he  was  seeking  to 
extirpate,  and  that  he  cannot  have  ignored  the  significance 
of  Jesus.  The  extent  of  his  knowledge  must  remain  a 
matter  of  conjecture,  but  the  fact  that  he  identified  the 
living  Person  who  appeared  to  him  with  Jesus  of  Nazareth 
is  sufficient  proof  of  the  influence  exerted  on  his  mind  by 
the  information  he  had  received  regarding  the  alleged 
Messiah.  But  it  is  of  much  greater  moment  to  remember 
that  immediately  after  the  supreme  crisis  Paul  associated 
himself  with  the  Christian  community.  There  is  no  reason 
to  doubt  the  report  in  Acts  that  he  became  intimate  in 

:  Gal.  i.  1,  11,  12. 

o 


98  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  L 

Damascus  with  a  Christian  disciple  named  Ananias,1 
and  he  must  speedily  have  got  into  touch  with  the  other 
believers  in  Christ  who  were  to  be  found  in  that  region. 
His  own  evidence  that  he  was  a  marked  man  in  Damascus  2 
corroborates  the  vague  information  of  Acts  as  to  his  bold 
proclamation  of  the  Gospel,3  and  warns  us  against  taking 
too  literally  the  bare  statements  of  Galatians  referred  to 
above.  Even  from  Gal.  ii.  1  it  is  obvious  that  Paul  had 
been  for  a  considerable  time  a  fellow-worker  with  Barna- 
bas, and  the  passage  in  Acts  which  mentions  their  early 
intimacy  4  has  often  been  insufficiently  appreciated.  Paul 
himself  describes  a  journey  to  Jerusalem  from  Damascus, 
which  he  dates  apparently  three  years  after  his  conversion, 
'  to  interview  Peter.'  L  An  unprejudiced  reader  can  have 
little  doubt  that  this  visit  is  identical  with  the  sojourn  at 
Jerusalem  narrated  in  Acts  ix.  28,  29  :  only  that  Luke 
wishes  to  put  as  favourable  a  construction  as  possible  on  the 
relations  of  the  new  convert  to  the  Christians  of  the  Mother- 
Church,  and  leaves  the  impression  that  the  visit  was  con- 
siderably longer  than  Paul's  own  statement  permits  us  to 
believe,  and  of  a  much  more  public  character.  Paul  singles 
out  Peter  and  James  as  the  apostles  whom  he  met.  In 
view  of  later  events  that  is  suggestive.  At  every  stage  in 
his  career,  Paul  was  in  immediate  contact  with  those  who 
had  known  Jesus  and  their  friends  or  converts.  Hence  it 
was  inevitable  that  from  the  outset  of  his  Christian  course 
he  should  be  familiar  with  all  that  was  essential  in  the 
tradition  of  the  Church. 

This  being  so,  his  fundamental  positions  as  a  Christian 
would  be  profoundly  affected  by  the  information  which 
came  to  him  regarding  the  life  and  teaching  of  the  Lord, 
and  the  attitude  towards  that  life  and  teaching  which  he 
found  in  the  primitive  community.  Various  misconcep- 
tions have  arisen  at  this  point.  It  is  true  that  soon  after 
Paul's  mission-work  among  Gentiles  began  to  assume  large 
proportions,  he  was  brought  into  sharp  conflict  with  the 

1  Acts  ix.  lOff.  *  2  Cor.  xi.  32  f. 

•  Acts  ix.  22-25.  •  ix.  27.  »  Gal.  i.  18. 


ch.  v.]   ST.  PAUL  AND  THE  CHRISTIAN  TRADITION       99 

older  sections  of  the  Church  as  to  the  obligation  on  Gentile 
converts  to  keep  the  Mosaic  Law.  From  the  emotion 
revealed  by  the  broken  sentences  which  open  Gal.  ii.,  it  is 
clear  that  he  was  anxious,  at  least  for  a  time,  about  the 
decision  of  the  Jerusalem  apostles.  And  even  after  they 
had  shown  their  genuine  Christian  insight  by  refusing  to 
lay  down  a  rigid  rule  of  compliance,  and  by  giving  Paul  a 
free  hand  for  his  own  special  sphere,  representatives  of  the 
Mother-Church  continued  to  dog  his  steps  and  to  urge 
on  his  converts  that  he  was  preaching  a  mutilated  Gospel. 
But  this  special  aspect  of  the  situation  in  no  way  justifies 
the  idea  that  Paul  occupied  a  different  Christian  position 
from  that  of  the  primitive  Church.  As  we  have  seen,  there 
is  no  suggestion  that  they  were  at  variance  on  the  supreme 
question  of  Christology.1  Jiilicher  has  cogently  pointed 
out  the  all-important  matters  of  agreement  between  Paul 
and  so  unassailable  a  witness  to  the  standpoint  of  primitive 
Christianity  as  the  Gospel  of  Matthew.2  They  were  at 
one  as  to  Christ's  resurrection  and  exaltation,  His  universal 
Lordship,  His  relation  as  Son  to  the  Father.  Both  alike 
acknowledged  His  Messianic  dignity  and  His  sinlessness. 
Indeed  Paul  himself  makes  direct  reference  to  his  indebted- 
ness to  those  who  were  in  Christ  before  him,  when  he 
declares  to  the  Corinthians  :  '  I  handed  on  to  you  first  of 
all  that  which  I  myself  received,  that  Christ  died  for  our 
sins  according  to  the  Scriptures,  and  that  he  was  buried, 
and  that  he  was  raised  on  the  third  day  according  to  the 
Scriptures,  and  that  he  appeared  to  Cephas,  then  to  the 
twelve.'  3 

But  further,  the  notion  of  Paul's  isolated  position  is 
deduced  from  his  alleged  indifference  to  the  earthly  career 
of  Jesus.  The  paucity  of  references  to  Jesus'  teaching 
and  activity  is  insisted  on  as  a  proof  that  Paul  was  not 
interested  in  the  historical  person  :  that  his  attention  was 
absorbed  by  the  exalted  Lord.  Now  it  is  plain  that  he 
could  never  completely  adopt  the  attitude  of  those  who 

1  See,  e.g.,  Wernle.  Einjiihrung,  p.  177. 
1  Pauhta  u.  Jeaua,  p.  30. 


100  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  I. 

had  companied  with  Jesus.  He  did  not  feel  the  necessity 
of  such  a  course,  for  he  was  deeply  conscious  of  his 
own  special  vocation,  and  believed  that,  in  the  Divine 
wisdom  and  grace,  he  had  been  prepared  for  his  task  by 
the  most  fitting  type  of  discipline.  Moreover,  the  nature 
of  his  individuality  did  not  lend  itself  to  be  the  external 
reflection  even  of  so  solitary  and  incomparable  an  ideal 
as  that  embodied  in  the  life  of  Jesus.  What  he  assimilated 
of  His  precepts  and  example  would  inevitably  be  woven 
into  the  very  texture  of  his  Christian  character  and  be 
manifested  through  the  mirror  of  his  marked  personality. 
But  apart  from  such  psychological  considerations,  the 
aim  of  Paul's  correspondence  must  be  kept  in  view  if  we 
are  to  avoid  hasty  inferences  regarding  the  place  which  it 
gives  to  the  life  and  teaching  of  Jesus.  These  letters  were 
never  intended  to  be  missionary  addresses.  In  every 
instance  the  apostle  writes  to  men  and  women  who  were 
already  believers  in  Christ,  and  who  had  received  at 
least  some  training  within  the  Christian  community.  His 
purpose  almost  invariably  is  to  warn  against  perils  to  which 
he  knows  his  readers  are  exposed,  to  encourage  in  circum- 
stances of  trial  and  temptation,  or  to  give  practical 
guidance  on  problems  of  Church  life  which  had  been 
referred  to  him  by  the  community  in  question.  It  is 
surely  obvious  that  he  will  take  for  granted  a  more  or  less 
accurate  acquaintance  on  their  part  with  the  salient 
features  of  Jesus'  character  and  history.  No  more  reckless 
assertion  could  be  made  than  that  His  fife  on  earth  was  for' 
Paul  an  unimportant  episode.  As  Johannes  Weiss  sugges- 
tively puts  it,  'the  fundamental  presupposition  of  Paul's 
Gospel  is  that  Christ  accomplished  his  work  of  redemption 
in  the  flesh.'  1  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  quote  passages. 
In  Paul's  view  the  cross  is  the  crowning-point  of  that 
humiliation  which  was  involved  in  the  earthly  life  of  Jesus.2 
An  outstanding  element  in  his  description  of  the  Son  of 
Cod  is  *  that  he  was  born  of  David's  seed  by  natural 
descent.'  When  he  explains  the  redemption  which  brings 
1  Dot  VrchrUUntum,  p.  167.  ■  Phil.  ii.  7,  8. 


ch.  v.J  ST.  PAUL  AND  THE  CHRISTIAN  TRADITION      101 

sonship,  he  emphasises  the  fact  that  the  Redeemer  was 
born  of  a  woman,  born  under  the  Law.1  At  a  later  point 
we  shall  have  occasion  to  examine  the  material  in  some 
detail.  Meanwhile  a  further  misconception  which  bears 
on  our  present  subject  must  not  be  overlooked.  It  has 
been  frequently  asserted  in  -ecent  theological  literature 
that  between  Paul  and  Jesu.  there  is  a  chasm  which  camiot 
be  bridged.  Jesus  is  solely  concerned  with  the  claims 
of  the  moral  imperative  which  He  identifies  with  the  will 
of  the  Father  in  heaven.  Paul  assigns  central  importance 
to  a  scheme  of  redemptive  facts  or  events  which  must 
be  accepted  with  a  view  to  salvation. 

From  the  course  of  the  preceding  discussion  it  is  suffi- 
ciently clear  that  this  is  an  altogether  misleading  de- 
scription of  Paul's  position.  But  it  does  take  account  of  a 
truth  which  is  vital  for  any  comparison  between  Paul  and 
Jesus.  The  comparison,  to  put  it  in  a  sentence,  cannot  be 
made  on  equal  terms.  We  are  ignoring  the  real  character 
of  the  situation  when  we  say  :  '  Such  and  such  was  the 
teaching  of  Jesus  :  but  this  is  the  teaching  of  Paul.'  We 
forget  that  the  supreme  factor  in  Paul's  religious  experience 
was  the  Person  of  Jesus  Himself  in  every  stage  through 
which  He  passed  from  His  entrance  into  the  world  to  His 
final  exaltation.  Therefore  it  is  irrelevant  to  compare 
their  points  of  view.  Jesus,  as  all  His  followers  and  Paul 
himself  were  convinced,  stood  in  a  relation  to  God  which 
no  one  else  could  share.  His  contact  with  His  Father  knew 
no  barrier.  Paul  as  a  Christian  found  God  in  Jesus  Christ. 
He  was  never  conscious  that  the  medium  distorted  his 
vision.  Its  inestimable  worth  was  bound  up  with  the  love 
of  Him  who  humbled  Himself  and  became  obedient  even 
unto  death.  We  must  carefully  examine  his  view  of  the 
mediation.  But  let  us  remember  that  apart  from  it 
Paul  would  not  have  come  to  understand  God  at  all. 

Accordingly  it  would  be  erroneous  to  estimate  Paul's 
relation  to  the  historical  Jesus  from  a  comparison  of  the 
form  of  their  teaching.  But  it  is  not  difficult  to  show  that 
"  Gal.  iv.  4. 


102  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  l. 

at  every  turn  Paul,  like  the  primitive  Church,  presupposes 
the  life  and  doctrine  and  influence  of  Jesus.  How,  it  may- 
be asked,  would  such  a  background  be  likely  to  appear  in 
occasional  writings  like  the  Pauline  Epistles  ?  We  should 
expect  no  more  than  incidental  references.  And  the  more 
spontaneously  these  appear,  the  more  evidently  do  they 
presuppose  a  close  and  accurate  acquaintance  of  Paul  with 
the  tradition  of  Jesus.  The  readiness  with  which  he  can 
use  his  material  appears  throughout  his  writings.  When 
the  Corinthians,  in  their  perplexity  about  the  resurrection, 
put  definite  questions  to  him  on  the  matter,  he  takes  his 
stand  on  the  resurrection  of  Christ  Himself,  and,  without 
constraint,  enumerates  various  appearances  of  His  to 
individual  disciples  and  to  groups  of  believers.1  In  dealing 
with  abuses  connected  with  the  observance  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  at  Corinth,  of  which  news  had  reached  him,  he  gives 
an  account  of  Jesus'  farewell  meal  with  His  disciples,  so 
vivid  and  so  graphic  as  to  show  his  thorough  acquaintance 
with  the  details.2  In  reply  to  the  difficulties  raised  about 
marriage  by  persons  of  ascetic  tendencies  in  the  Corinthian 
Church,  he  directly  appeals  to  the  Master's  teaching  : 
1  For  married  people  these  are  my  instructions  (and  they 
are  the  Lord's,  not  mine).  A  wife  is  not  to  separate  from 
her  husband — if  she  has  separated,  she  must  either  remain 
single  or  be  reconciled  to  him — and  a  husband  must  not 
put  away  his  wife.'  And  then  he  proceeds  :  '  To  other 
people  I  would  say  (not  the  Lord)  :  if  any  brother  has  a 
wife  who  is  not  a  believer,  and  if  she  consents  to  live  with 
him,  he  must  not  put  her  away  ;  and  if  any  wife  has  a 
husband  who  is  not  a  believer,  and  if  he  consents  to  live 
with  her,  she  must  not  put  her  husband  away.'  3  This 
instance  is  extraordinarily  instructive  for  our  purpose. 
Where  the  disciples  have  preserved  a  ruling  of  Jesus  on 
any  point  of  perplexity,  that  ruling  is  necessarily  decisive. 
In  the  present  instance  Paul  can  cite  the  opinion  of  Jesus  on 
divorce,  which  has  been  handed  down  to  us  in  the  Synoptic 

1   1  Car.  xv.  S-8.  »  1  Cor.  xi.  23  tf. 

•  1  Cor.  vii.  10- 13  (It.). 


ch.  v.]    ST.  PAUL  AND  THE  CHRISTIAN  TRADITION     103 

tradition.1  But  the  question  of  mixed  marriages,  which 
was  bound  to  create  difficulties  in  a  heathen-Christian 
community  like  that  at  Corinth,  had  never  been  before 
Jesus.  So  the  apostle  deals  with  it  on  his  own  responsibility, 
taking  care  to  make  plain  that  he  has  not  the  Master's 
authority  for  his  advice.  The  passage  clearly  indicates 
Paul's  attitude  towards  and  dependence  on  the  teaching  of 
Jesus.  A  further  interesting  example  occurs  in  a  section 
of  1  Corinthians  in  which  the  apostle,  who  has  been  urging 
the  stronger -minded  Christians  to  respect  the  scruples  of 
the  weak  and  to  deny  themselves,  seeks  to  show  that  he 
himself  has  never  asserted  his  '  rights  '  in  his  dealings  with 
the  Corinthian  community.  One  example  of  his  self- 
renunciation  is  afforded  by  his  refusal  to  accept  support 
from  them.  '  Do  you  not  know  that  as  men  who  perform 
temple-rites  get  their  food  from  the  temple,  and  as  attend- 
ants at  the  altar  get  their  share  of  the  sacrifices,  so  the 
Lord's  instructions  were  that  those  who  proclaim  the 
gospel  are  to  get  their  living  by  the  gospel  ? '  2  Here,  as 
a  matter  of  course,  he  points  out  Jesus'  counsel  on  the 
subject,  which  he  accepts,  and  expects  his  readers  to  accept, 
as  authoritative.  It  will  be  observed  that  all  the  illus- 
trations we  have  given  are  taken  from  the  First  Epistle  to 
the  Corinthians.  The  fact  is  suggestive,  for  this  happens 
to  be  the  only  letter  in  which  a  number  of  practical  ques- 
tions affecting  the  life  and  organisation  of  the  Church  were 
dealt  with  by  Paul  at  the  request  of  his  converts.  If 
more  of  such  inquiries  had  been  preserved  in  documents 
(for  the  situation  must  have  been  common),  it  is  almost 
certain  that  we  sftould  have  found  numerous  additional 
references  to  definite  instructions  of  Jesus. 

We  do  not  propose  to  collect  evidence  for  Paul's  know- 
ledge of  details  in  the  career  of  Jesus.  A  meagre  amount 
is  available  in  the  existing  sources,  and  if  any  samples 
of  the  apostle's  instruction  of  converts  had  been  handed 

1  Mark  x.  1-12,  with  parallels.     It  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  say  whether 
Paul  was  here  dependent  on  written  documents  or  oral  tradition. 
»   1  Cor.  ix.  13,  14  (M.,. 


104  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft.  h 

down,  more  would  undoubtedly  have  been  forthcoming. 
But  in  this  connection  it  may  be  frankty  admitted  that  in 
Paul's  mind  all  else  in  Jesus'  earthly  experience  was  over- 
shadowed by  His  entrance  into  humanity,  His  self-sacrific- 
ing death  on  the  cross,  and  His  resurrection  to  glory  and 
triumph.  Whatever  emphasis  he  may  have  laid  on  the 
proof  of  Jesus'  love  and  compassion  afforded  by  deeds  of 
which  he  was  informed,  nothing  could  be  compared  with 
the  knowledge  that  '  while  we  were  yet  sinners,  Christ 
died  for  the  ungodly.'  However  often  he  may  have  alluded 
to  the  Divine  power  energising  in  Jesus,  its  supreme  ex- 
pression was  His  victory  over  death  and  the  grave. 

But  before  we  examine  more  carefully  the  influence  of 
Jesus'  teaching,  with  which  he  became  acquainted  in  the 
Christian  community,  upon  the  religious  thought  of  Paul, 
it  is  worth  while  to  note  the  impression  left  on  his  mind 
by  what  he  learnt  of  the  Master's  character.  Here  again, 
as  might  be  expected,  we  have  to  do  with  incidental 
allusions  and  not  with  elaborate  references.  But  the  very 
fact  that  they  are  introduced  so  artlessly  reveals  Paul's 
intimacy  with  the  historical  tradition.  When  pleading  for 
a  fair  judgment  of  his  own  conduct,  which  had  been 
maligned  by  opponents  within  the  Christian  Church,  he 
appeals  to  the  Corinthians  '  by  the  gentleness  and  reason- 
ableness of  Christ.'  x  In  writing  to  his  much-loved  con- 
verts at  Philippi,  he  calls  God  to  witness  that  he  yearns 
for  them  all  '  with  the  affection  of  Christ  Jesus  himself.'  2 
When  exhorting  the  strong  to  bear  the  burdens  of  the  weak, 
he  reminds  them  that  '  Christ  never  pleased  himself,  but, 
as  it  is  written,  the  reproaches  of  those  who  denounced 
thee  fell  upon  me,'  the  Old  Testament  quotation  showing 
that  he  had  in  mind  the  scorn  and  abuse  which  the 
Master  had  to  bear  in  accomplishing  His  mission.3  It  i» 
quite  probable  that  when,  in  sotting  before  the  Corinthian 
Christians  the  duty  of  a  liberal  contribution  to  the  col- 
lection organised  for  the  punier  brethren  iii  Jerusalem, 
he  speaks  of  '  the  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who, 

1    2  Cor.  x.   1.  •    Phil,  i.  8  (M.).  8  Rom.  xv.  3. 


ch.  v.]   ST.  PAUL  AND  THE  CHRISTIAN  TRADITION     105 

though  he  was  rich,  yet  for  your  sakes  became  poor,'  1 
he  is  thinking  of  Jesus'  actual  poverty  in  His  earthly  exist- 
ence. Of  special  interest  are  the  indications  that  Paul 
portrayed  the  character  of  Jesus  to  his  converts  as  the 
ideal  for  imitation.  In  the  passages  in  question  he  often 
associates  himself  with  his  Lord,  as  supplying  the  standard 
of  ethical  life.  This  is  simply  an  example  of  his  pastoral 
skill  and  insight.  For  it  is  the  unanimous  testimony  of 
missionaries  that  their  own  lives  have  to  serve  in  the 
first  instance  as  a  pattern  for  immature  heathen  converts. 
In  his  earliest  letters  he  gives  thanks  that  his  readers 
'  began  to  copy  us  and  the  Lord.'  2  In  1  Corinthians, 
which  we  have  so  often  cited,  he  entreats  them  :  '  Copy  me, 
as  I  copied  Christ.'  3  And  when  he  warns  Christians  in 
Asia  against  yielding  to  pagan  vices,  he  declares  :  '  That 
is  not  how  you  have  understood  the  meaning  of  Christ,  for 
it  is  Christ  whom  you  have  been  taught,  it  is  in  Christ  that 
you  have  been  instructed,  the  real  Christ  who  is  in  Jesus.'  4 
References  of  such  a  kind  plainly  imply  that  the  man  who 
made  them  not  only  had  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the 
character  and  conduct  of  the  historical  Jesus,  but  laid  the 
profoundest  emphasis  upon  them  in  the  discharge  of  his 
work  as  a  missionary. 

But  we  must  further  observe  that  the  fundamental  note 
of  Jesus'  teaching,  the  revelation  of  the  Fatherhood  of  God, 
dominates  Paul's  religious  conceptions  from  beginning  to 
end.  This  can  be  made  clear  in  a  variety  of  directions. 
We  may  be  surprised  that  the  apostle  has  not  given  a 
larger  place  to  the  idea  of  the  Kingdom  of  God,  on  which 
Jesus  laid  so  much  emphasis.  There  are,  of  course,  various 
instances  of  its  occurrence  in  his  Epistles,  and  these  reveal 
the  same  shades  of  meaning  as  those  which  appear  in  the 
Synoptic  Gospels.  In  some  passages,  as,  e.g.,  1  Thess.  ii.  12, 
1  Cor.  xv.  24,  etc.,  the  term  '  kingdom  '  is  essentially 
eschatological.  Others,  as,  e.g.,  1  Cor.  iv.  20,  Col.  i.  13,  as 
plainly  presuppose  that  the  Kingdom  has  already  been 

1  2  Cor.  viii.  9.  *  1  Thess.  i.  6. 

8  1  Cor.  xi.  1  (M.).  *  Eph.  iv.  20,  21  (M.). 


106  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  i. 

inaugurated,  and  exists  as  a  power  in  the  world.  But  the 
very  fact  that  the  Kingdom-idea  has  fallen  into  the  back- 
ground in  Paul's  mind  only  shows  the  more  conclusively 
that  he  has  penetrated  behind  the  form  to  the  inner 
substance  of  Jesus'  thought.  For  we  are  not  unduly 
pressing  the  data  when  we  assert  that  for  Paul  the  con- 
ception of  the  Family  of  God,  as  established  and  knit 
together  in  Christ,  takes  the  place  of  the  Kingdom.1  To 
make  good  this  position,  evidence  might  be  adduced  from 
the  whole  range  of  Paul's  writings.  A  few  t}rpical  instances 
will  suffice. 

No  statement  more  powerfully  sums  i.  Paul's  notion 
of  the  Christian  life  than  that  which  forms  the  climax  of 
one  of  his  greatest  arguments  in  Galatians  :  '  You  are  all 
sons  of  God  through  faith  in  Christ  Jesus.'  2  The  rich 
significance  of  these  words  is  disclosed  in  a  later  sentence 
of  the  paragraph  :  '  When  the  fulness  of  the  time  came, 
God  sent  forth  his  Son,  born  of  a  woman,  born  under  the 
law,  to  redeem  those  under  the  law,  that  we  might  receive 
our  adoption.  Now  because  you  are  sons,  God  sent  forth 
the  Spirit  of  his  Son  into  our  hearts,  crying,  Abba,  Father. 
So  that  you  are  no  longer  a  slave  but  a  son,  and  if  a  son 
then  also  an  heir  through  God.'  3  Practically  everything 
of  moment  in  Paul's  experience  of  religion  is  here  expressed 
— the  Incarnation,  the  Redemption  in  Christ,  the  gift  of  the 
Spirit,  the  crucial  relation  to  God  of  sonship,  the  right  to 
the  completed  inheritance.  And  it  is  plain  that  the  terms 
in  which  he  formulates  his  experience  go  back  to  the  teach- 
ing of  Jesus.  It  was  He  who,  out  of  the  depth  of  His  own 
unique  consciousness,  disclosed  the  high  truth  that  men  are 
called  to  be  sons  of  God,  not  in  abstract  name,  but  in  the 
reality  of  a  personal  relationship.  His  consciousness  of 
Sonship,  although  solitary,  sets  the  norm  for  those  whom 
He  is  not  ashamed  to  call  His  brethren.  Thus,  His  redemp- 
tion of  men  from  their  false  relation  to  God,  the  relation  of 

1  We  do  not  here  refer  to  the  parallel  conception  of  the  Body  of  Christ, 
which  will  be  examined  in  the  next  chapter. 

1  Gal.  iii.  28.  •  Gal.  iv.  4-7. 


ch.  v.]  ST.  PAUL  AND  THE  CHRISTIAN  TRADITION      107 

guilty  fear,  and  the  bestowal  of  that  Spirit  which  is  His 
own  life-principle,  introduce  them  into  what  Paul  calls 
'  the  liberty  of  the  glory  of  the  children  of  God.'  In 
Christ  Jesus  they  are  constituted  God's  sons. 

The  intimate  affinity  of  Paul  with  Jesus  is  equally 
manifest  in  what  he  teaches  concerning  the  Family -spirit. 
When  Jesus  was  asked,  '  Which  is  the  supreme  of  all  the 
commandments  ?  '  He  replied  :  '  The  chief  is  :  Hear,  O 
Israel,  the  Lord  our  God  is  one  Lord,  and  thou  shalt  love 
the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart  and  all  thy  soul  and  all 
thy  mind  and  all  thy  might  :  the  second  is  this  :  Thou 
shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself.'  *  It  is  needless  to 
recall  Paul's  wonderful  eulogy  of  love  in  1  Cor.  xiii.,  a 
passage  in  which  the  matchless  grace  of  the  thought  is 
almost  equalled  by  the  rhythmical  beauty  of  the  language. 
His  estimate,  as  there  unfolded,  may  well  have  been 
derived,  as  some  eminent  scholars  have  suggested,  from  the 
life  and  character  of  Jesus  Himself.  However  this  may 
be,  Paul  makes  plain  by  the  language  which  he  employs 
that  he  stands  in  the  direct  succession  of  Jesus.  In 
Rom.  xiii.  8  ff.,  when  formulating  various  Christian  duties, 
he  makes  this  most  suggestive  statement  :  *  Be  in  debt  to 
no  man  apart  from  the  debt  of  love  one  to  another.  He 
who  loves  his  fellow-man  has  fulfilled  the  law.  Thou  shalt 
not  commit  adultery,  Thou  shalt  not  kill,  Thou  shalt  not 
steal,  Thou  shalt  not  covet — these  and  any  other  commands 
are  summed  up  in  the  single  word,  Thou  shalt  love  thy 
neighbour  as  thyself.  Love  never  wrongs  a  neighbour  : 
therefore  love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law.'  2  That  this  is  no 
isolated  reference  becomes  plain  from  Gal.  v.  14  :  '  The 
whole  law  is  fulfilled  in  one  command,  namely,  Thou  shalt 
love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself.'  The  keynote  of  Paul's 
ethical  thought,  which  cannot  be  dissociated  from  the 
outcome  of  his  religious  faith,  he  has  caught  once  for  all 
from  the  teaching  of  Jesus. 

«  Mark  xii.  29-31.  »  Chiefly  M. 


108  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft.  l 

(b)  Eschatological  Conceptions 

A  careful  reader  of  the  Pauline  Epistles  must  be  im- 
pressed by  the  prominence  given  by  the  apostle  to  the 
element  of  Hope.  We  have  already  exemplified  this  in  the 
section  on  the  Messiah  in  the  preceding  chapter.  The 
very  existence  of  a  Messianic  ideal  involved  such  a  feature. 
And  it  belonged,  of  course,  to  the  essence  of  Paul's  pre- 
Christian  consciousness.  Now  we  have  seen  how  com- 
pletely his  conception  of  Messiah  was  altered  by  his  experi- 
ence of  the  risen  Jesus.  In  the  strict  sense,  the  ardent 
expectation  of  those  who  waited  for  the  Kingdom  of  God 
was  already  in  process  of  being  realised.  Phenomena  were 
visible  which  testified  to  the  power  of  the  unseen  world. 
Unique  gifts  and  graces  in  the  Christian  community  were 
the  evidence  of  a  new  order.  Fellowship  with  the  living 
Christ  lifted  the  soul  out  of  the  present.  Even  now 
Christians  were  in  possession  of  redemption.1  This 
redemption  was  different  from  the  earlier  hope  of  national 
deliverance.  It  was  embodied  in  the  forgiveness  of  sins, 
and  had  no  political  bearings  at  all.  In  one  aspect  of  it, 
nothing  more  satisfying  could  be  conceived.  Yet,  as  has 
been  noted,  Paul  was  keenly  alive  to  the  hampering  con- 
ditions inseparable  from  bodily  life  and  the  evils  imposed 
by  the  existing  constitution  of  the  world.  Redemption 
will  only  be  complete  when  the  present  organism  of  flesh 
and  blood  shall  be  exchanged  for  the  spiritual  organism, 
which  will  be  a  perfectly  adequate  expression  of  the  renewed 
life  of  the  Christian  :  when  this  age,  which  is  cursed  with 
futility  and  death,  shall  give  place  to  that  which  is  to  come, 
the  epoch  of  '  glory,'  in  which  men  shall  be  transformed  into 
the  very  image  of  God.  It  is  evident  that  Paul  has  developed 
these  ideas  from  a  deep-rooted  personal  instinct.  But  lie 
has  also  preserved  a  large  amount  of  the  eschatological 
material  of  Judaism.  Here  again  we  may  explain  the  fact 
by  Baying  that  he  remained  true  to  his  Jewish  inheritance. 
But  how  are  we  to  reconcile  that  with  his  altered  con- 
'  Col.  i.  14, 


ch.  v.]   ST.  PAUL  AND  THE  CHRISTIAN  TRADITION      109 

ception  of  Messiah  ?  How  are  we  to  account  for  the  extra- 
ordinary prominence  he  assigns  to  the  Parousia,  the  Second 
Advent  of  Christ,  with  all  its  eschatological  accompani- 
ments ?  Has  he  here  elaborated  on  apocalyptic  lines  the 
contents  of  his  Damascus  experience  ?  Or  is  he  attempting 
to  combine  two  incongruous  ideas,  the  traditional  machinery 
of  Jewish  eschatology  with  the  spiritualised  Messianic  doc- 
trine involved  in  his  own  Christian  view  of  Messiah  ? 

The  clue  to  his  procedure  is  at  least  partly  to  be  found 
in  the  attitude  of  the  early  Church.  The  New  Testament 
writings,  almost  without  exception,  reveal  an  eager  longing 
for  the  consummation  of  God's  redeeming  purpose,  which 
will  coincide  with  the  return  of  Christ.  It  is  plain,  there- 
fore, that  primitive  Christianity  was  possessed  by  an 
overpowering  eschatological  enthusiasm.  The  Apocalypse, 
which  is  a  typical  product  of  its  age,  closes  with  the 
words  :  '  He  who  bears  this  testimony  says,  Even  so  :  I 
am  coming  very  soon.  Amen,  Lord  Jesus,  come  !  '  (M.).' 
The  ejaculation  corresponds  to  the  final  salutation  of  so 
completely  different  a  document  as  Paul's  first  letter  to 
the  Corinthians  :  '  If  any  one  has  no  love  for  the  Lord, 
God's  curse  be  upon  him.  Maran  atha  ! '  ('  Lord  come  ! ') 
In  what  is  probably  the  latest  book  of  the  New  Testament, 
the  writer  is  chiefly  concerned  with  meeting  the  scoffing 
reproach  hurled  at  Christians  :  '  Where  is  his  promised 
advent  ?  Since  the  day  our  fathers  fell  asleep,  things 
remain  exactly  as  they  were  from  the  beginning  of 
creation.'  *  The  return  of  Christ  introduces  the  resur- 
rection and  the  judgment.  Sometimes  the  final  con- 
summation is  preceded  by  a  limited  rule  of  Christ  on  earth, 
during  which  all  opposing  forces  are  subdued. 

The  Synoptic  Gospels  indicate  that  we  must  allow  for 
something  more  than  the  traditions  of  Jewish  Messianism 
in  attempting  to  account  for  this  constant  strain  in  the 
religion  of  the  primitive  Church.  It  is  extremely  difficult 
to  determine  with  any  accuracy  the  eschatological  teaching 
of  Jesus.     A  comparison  of  parallel  passages  shows  the 

1  2  Pet.  iii.  4  (M.). 


110  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  i. 

effect  of  varying  traditions.  Not  only  so.  In  an  atmo- 
sphere of  such  eager  expectation  of  the  Parousia  as  that 
in  which  the  report  of  Jesus'  words  was  handed  down, 
His  sa3nngs  were  exposed  to  modifications  likely  to  stamp 
them  with  eschatological  features.1  But  after  due  allow- 
ance has  been  made  for  such  influences,  there  remains  a 
residuum  of  evidence  which  cannot  be  explained  away. 
Here  we  can  only  touch  the  subject.  Various  utterances 
of  Jesus  appear  to  imply  that  He  expected  the  Kingdom 
of  God  to  be  consummated  within  a  comparatively  short 
period.  More  than  once  He  associates  this  consummation 
with  His  own  return  in  glory.  When,  however,  we  consider 
that  the  Gospel  which  He  brought  laid  supreme  emphasis 
on  the  immediate  recognition  of  the  love  of  the  Father  and 
its  present  enjoyment  by  His  children,  it  is  obvious  that 
questions  of  chronology  cannot  be  of  primary  importance 
for  Jesus'  conception  of  the  Kingdom.  So  that  His  predic- 
tion of  its  immediacy  as  an  eschatological  magnitude  may 
simply  express  the  prophetic  certainty  that  the  cause  of 
God  must  be  victorious.  Whatever  be  the  precise  explana- 
tion of  this  aspect  of  His  teaching,  it  was  natural  that  its 
literal  form  should  above  all  else  appeal  to  men  and  women 
who  had  been  taught  to  look  forward  to  a  definite  moment 
in  history  at  which  God  should  intervene,  either  directly, 
or  through  His  Vicegerent,  the  Messiah.  Paul  found  this 
expectation  dominant  in  the  Christian  community  when  he 
entered  it.  He  was  profoundly  impressed  by  it,  as  we  can 
gather  from  such  passages  as  1  Thess.  iv.  13 — v.  11  ;  1  Cor. 
xv.  20-28;  Rom.  xiii.  11-13.  He  can  describe  the  change 
through  which  his  heathen  converts  have  passed  as  a  turn- 
ing to  God  from  idols,  '  to  serve  a  living  and  true  God,  and 
to  wait  for  the  coming  of  his  Son  from  heaven  the  Son 
whom  he  raised  from  the  dead,  Jesus  who  rescued  us  from 
the  wrath  to  come.'  ■  And  he  uses  the  expectation  in  hi* 
letters  as  a  powerful  motive  to  self-discipline  and  watchful- 

1   Bee  on  the  whole  subject  the  admirable  discussion  in  Moffatt's  Th 

of  tf/fi  fJotprt*,  pp.  41-84. 

■    1  Thess.  i.  9,  10  (chiefly  M.). 


ch.  v.]   ST.  PAUL  AND  THE  CHRISTIAN  TRADITION     111 

ness  of  life.  It  is  of  interest  to  note  that  in  his  esehato- 
logical  teaching  he  constantly  reflects  not  only  the  thought 
but  also  the  language  of  Jesus. 

(c)  The  Era  of  the  Spirit 

No  conception,  as  we  have  discovered,  was  more  central 
for  Paul  than  that  of  the  Spirit.  This  we  endeavoured 
to  trace,  primarily,  to  his  conversion-experience.  The 
supreme  crisis  of  his  life  was  always  identified  by  the 
apostle  with  a  new  consciousness  of  spiritual  power.  That 
power  he  could  only  ascribe  to  the  risen  Lord  who  had 
revealed  Himself.  Thenceforward,  possession  of  this  high 
endowment  was  regarded  by  Paul  as  the  main  criterion  of 
the  Christian  life.  A  remarkable  example  of  his  position 
is  found  in  1  Cor.  xii.  3,  where,  in  distinguishing  between 
genuine  and  spurious  spiritual  manifestations,  he  declares  : 
1  No  man  can  say,  Jesus  is  Lord,  except  by  the  Holy  Spirit.' 
He  admits,  as  this  passage  shows,  the  existence  of  spiri- 
tual phenomena  which  are  worthless  and  perilous.  These 
were  visible  in  heathen  communities,  and,  so  far  as  their 
external  form  was  concerned,  might  easily  be  confounded 
with  those  of  the  Christian  society.  The  crucial  difference 
lay  in  the  fact  that  the  Holy  Spirit  was  directly  associated 
with  Christ.  He  is  described  as  '  the  Spirit  of  God's  Son,' 
or  *  the  Spirit  of  Christ.'  '  Where  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord 
is,'  Paul  asserts,  '  there  is  freedom.'  *  Obviously  then, 
in  his  judgment,  the  Spirit  is  above  all  else  the  witness 
to  the  power  and  presence  of  the  living  Christ  and  all  that 
that  involves. 

We  cannot  tell  how  early  in  his  Christian  career  Paul 
came  to  formulate  his  conception  of  the  Spirit  along  the 
lines  which  are  discernible  in  the  Epistles.  But  we  know 
that  when  he  entered  the  Christian  Church  he  was  con- 
fronted with  experiences  similar  to  his  own,  which  were 
grouped  together  under  the  category  of  the  Spirit. 

The  opening  chapters  of  Acts  are  of  priceless  value  as 

1  2  Cor.  iii.  17. 


112  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  l. 

revealing  the  tone  and  feeling  of  early  Christianity.  '  Day 
after  day,'  we  are  told,  '  they  resorted  with  one  accord  to 
the  temple  and  broke  bread  together  in  their  own  homes  : 
they  ate  with  a  glad  and  simple  heart,  praising  God  and 
looked  on  with  favour  by  all  the  people.'  1  The  truth- 
fulness of  the  picture  is  corroborated  throughout  the  New 
Testament.  Alike  in  Paul  and  other  writers  we  overhear 
the  same  note  of  exhilaration  and  joy.2  More  than  once 
the  temper  of  these  primitive  believers  is  described  by  the 
term  napp^a-la,  glad,  courageous  self-expression.  This 
excites  the  amazement  of  the  Jewish  authorities  in  the  case 
of  Peter  and  John.3  The  writer  of  Acts  definitely  associates 
it  with  the  Spirit  :  '  When  they  had  prayed,  the  place  where 
they  were  met  was  shaken,  and  they  were  all  rilled  with  the 
Holy  Spirit,  and  began  to  speak  the  word  of  God  with  glad 
fearlessness.'  4  The  connection  of  this  attitude  with  the 
Spirit  belongs,  no  doubt,  to  the  primitive  thought  of  the 
Church.  For  the  early  traditions,  incorporated  in  Acts, 
are  saturated  with  the  conception  of  the  Spirit.  The 
chief  emphasis,  indeed,  is  laid  upon  abnormal  phenomena. 
Again  and  again  in  Acts,  speaking  with  '  tongues '  is 
singled  out  as  typical  of  the  Spirit's  operation  in  the  life 
of  believers.5  Paul's  discussion  of  spiritual  gifts,  in  reply 
to  the  question  addressed  to  him  on  that  subject  by  the 
Christians  at  Corinth,  shows  the  firmly  established  place 
this  endowment  held  in  the  esteem  of  the  community.6 
Most  scholars  are  now  disposed  to  identify  this  '  glossolalia  ' 
with  a  phenomenon  which  belongs  to  all  outbursts  of 
spiritual  enthusiasm.  In  such  times  of  nervous  tension, 
the  emotional  life  bursts  through  its  ordinary  barriers,  and 
men  and  women  break  forth  into  ejaculations  of  praise  and 
prayer,  often  quite  unintelligible  to  their  neighbours,  but 
Berving  as  an  outlet  for  their  pent-up  feeling.  Paul  clearly 
indicates  the  restraints  which  ought  to  be  placed  upon 
such  manifestations.     And,  as  we  have  seen,  his  profound 

1  Acts  ii.  40  (M.).     Cf.  iv.  33,  v.  41. 

»  Of.  Phil.  iv.  4  ;    1   J'et.  ii.  9;    Jus.  i.  2. 

•  Art,  iv.    18.  *  Acts  iv.  31. 

•  Acts  ii.    »,  \.   4U,   \ix.  ti.  *    I  <  'or.  xiv. 


ch.  v.]  ST.  PAUL  AND  THE  CHRISTIAN  TRADITION      113 

influence  probably  did  more  than  anything  else  to  keep 
them  under  control,  and  to  turn  this  exuberance  of 
emotional  vitality  into  the  channels  of  moral  action.  But 
already  in  the  early  Church  the  more  wholesome  con- 
ception of  the  significance  of  the  Spirit  had  begun  to 
assert  itself.  Indeed  from  the  beginning  fearless  pro- 
clamation of  the  Gospel  was  traced  to  the  power  of  the 
Spirit,  just  as  definitely  as  gifts  of  healing  or  interpretations 
of  truth  or  glossolalia.1  But  naturally  what  was  extra- 
ordinary attracted  special  attention.  Behind  all  lay  the 
conviction  that  the  Messianic  Age  had  begun  to  dawn. 

Now  already  in  the  Old  Testament  the  new  era,  so 
ardently  longed  for,  was  connected  with  a  unique  out- 
pouring of  Divine  influences.  In  Isa.  xi.  2,  it  is  said  of  the 
Messianic  King  that  '  the  spirit  of  the  Lord  shall  rest  upon 
him,  the  spirit  of  wisdom  and  understanding,  the  spirit 
of  counsel  and  might,  the  spirit  of  knowledge  and  of  the 
fear  of  the  Lord.'  Jeremiah  speaks  of  the  wonderful  days 
to  come  in  which  God  will  put  His  law  in  the  inward  parts 
of  His  people,  and  write  it  in  their  hearts.2  Ezekiel  has  the 
same  idea  of  the  '  new  spirit '  which  is  God's  Spirit.3  First 
Enoch  describes  the  Messiah  very  much  in  terms  of  Isa. 
xi.  2,4  and  later,  the  Psalms  of  Solomon  speak  of  the 
wisdom,  righteousness,  and  might  of  God's  Anointed  as 
wrought  by  the  Spirit.5  In  Isa.  xxxii.  15  the  epoch  of  bliss 
is  ushered  in  by  the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit  from  on  high. 

The  early  Christians,  quoting  the  apocalyptic  words  of 
Joel,6  are  convinced  that  all  these  forecasts  have  found 
their  realisation  through  the  exalted  Jesus.  The  pro- 
nouncement of  Peter  in  Acts  ii.  32  f.  gives  the  clue  to  the 
general  belief  :  '  This  Jesus  God  raised  up,  as  we  can 
all  bear  witness.  Exalted  then  by  God's  right  hand,  and 
receiving  from  the  Father  the  long -promised  holy  Spirit, 
he  has  poured  on  us  what  3^ou  now  see  and  hear.'  7  This 
indissoluble  association  of  the  Spirit  with  Jesus  had  already 

1  See  Acts  iv.  31  as  above.  2  Jer.  xxxi.  33. 

3  Ezek.  xxxvi.  26,  27.  *   1  Enoch  xlix.  3. 

6  Pss.  of  Sol.  xviii.  8.  s  Joel  ii.  28  ff.     Cf.  Aots  ii.  16  ff. 

7  Chiefly  M. 


114  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  i. 

before  Paul's  time  ensured  that  the  conception  should  not 
degenerate  into  a  mere  external  superstition. 

Enough  probably  has  been  said  to  indicate  that  Paul 
must  have  been  under  real  obligations  to  the  Christian 
community  which  he  entered,  in  formulating  both  for  his 
own  mind  and  for  his  audiences  in  the  mission-field  a 
fruitful  conception  of  the  Spirit.1  Yet  it  is  none  the  less 
clear  that  he  worked  out  to  its  proper  consummation  the 
idea,  which  was  apt  to  be  lost  in  the  midst  of  startling 
phenomena,  that  the  Spirit,  as  the  gift  and  pledge  of  Christ, 
was  not  an  endowment  for  special  occasions  or  special 
activities,  but  rather  the  life-principle  of  every  trustful 
and  loyal  disciple. 


(d)  The  Death  of  Christ 

From  the  very  dawn  of  his  Christian  career  Paul  was 
obliged  to  reflect  upon  the  significance  of  the  death  of 
Jesus,  the  Messiah.  In  the  next  chapter  we  must  carefully 
examine  his  interpretation  of  the  facts.  But,  with  a  view 
to  that  investigation,  it  is  of  moment  to  ask  :  From  what 
point  of  view  was  this  crucial  event  regarded  in  the  circle 
of  primitive  believers  ?  The  pre-eminent  position  given  to 
the  story  of  the  Passion  in  the  Synoptic  tradition  bears 
witness  to  the  absorbing  interest  which  it  created  in  the 
early  Church.  And  in  their  work  among  their  own  fellow- 
countrymen  the  first  preachers  of  the  Gospel  must  neces- 
sarily have  endeavoured  to  explain  the  meaning  of  the 
cross  to  those  who  considered  it  as  discrediting  the  claims 
of  Jesus. 

When  we  turn  to  the  early  chapters  of  Acts,  we  find  some 
illumination  as  to  the  direction  which  was  being  taken  by 
Christian  thought  on  the  subject.     It  accords  with  what 

1  We  have  nol  discussed  the  question  of  Jesus'  teaching  on  the  Spirit. 
The  data  in  llir-  Synaptics  an  quiti'  inadequate  for  the  purpose*  Tho=o 
in  the  Fourth  Goapel  are  an  interpretation  which  prosuppoaes  Paulinism. 
And  y\  the  pUce  given  by  the  writer  to  the  conception  oi  the  Spirit  ia 
mon  intelligible  if  some  tradition!  of  Jeeue'  teaching  on  the  subject  were 
curreut  in  the  Church.      0£.  J.uke  xxiv.  48,  49;    Acts  i.  4  f. 


ch.  v.]   ST.  PAUL  AND  THE  CHRISTIAN  TRADITION     115 

we  might  expect  in  the  opening  stages  of  reflection.  The 
simplest  point  of  view  is  that  which  regards  the  death  of 
Jesus  as  a  crime  committed  by  the  Jews,  in  ignorance  of 
its  full  and  awful  import.  '  I  know,  brethren,'  says  Peter, 
'  that  you  acted  in  ignorance,  as  did  also  your  rulers.'  * 
Stephen  compares  the  murder  of  '  the  Righteous  One ' 
with  the  persecution  and  slaying  of  the  prophets  in  earlier 
generations.2  But  from  the  beginning  their  action  is 
regarded  as  no  mere  accident,  due  to  an  outburst  of  human 
malice.  It  belongs  to  a  deliberate  and  predetermined 
purpose  of  God.  The  Jews  were  only  instruments  to  carry 
out  His  will,  '  to  do  what  thy  hand  and  thy  counsel  had 
decreed  to  happen.'  3  Indeed,  even  when  blaming  their 
ignorance,  Peter  describes  it  as  the  means  which  God 
took  to  carry  out  that  which  He  had  announced  long 
before  by  the  mouth  of  the  prophets.4  The  Second  Psalm 
is  quoted  as  declaring  that  '  the  kings  of  the  earth  rose  up 
and  the  rulers  gathered  together  against  the  Lord  and 
against  his  Christ.'  5 

Again  and  again  in  the  earlier  section  of  Acts  the  for- 
giveness of  sins  is  more  or  less  vaguely  associated  with  the 
person  of  Jesus  as  crucified.  Thus,  immediately  after  he 
has  pointed  to  the  fulfilment  of  prophecy  in  the  suffering 
of  Christ,  Peter  urges  upon  his  hearers  repentance  '  with  a 
view  to  the  blotting  out  of  your  sins.'  6  Having  described 
Christ  as  '  the  stone  rejected  by  you  builders  '  (Psa.  cxviii. 
22),  he  asserts  that  '  in  no  other  is  there  salvation.'  7  No 
better  example  of  the  position  could  be  given  than  Acts  v. 
30,  31  (M.)  :  '  The  God  of  our  fathers  raised  Jesus  whom 
you  murdered  by  hanging  him  on  a  gibbet.  God  lifted  him 
up  to  his  right  hand  as  our  pioneer  and  saviour,  in  order 
to  grant  repentance  and  remission  of  sins  to  Israel.'  In  all 
these  passages — and  they  are  only  a  selection — there  is  no 
attempt  to  explain  the  relation  of  forgiveness  to  the  death 
of  Jesus.     Yet  the  words  in  our  last   quotation   which 

1  Acts  iii.  17.  s  Acts  vii.  52. 

»  Acts  iv.  27,  28  ;    ii.  2«.  *  Acts  iii.  18. 

•  Acts  iv.  26.  •  Acts  iii.  19.  »  Acts  iv.  12. 


ilb  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTL  [pt.  i. 

speak  of  '  hanging  him  on  a  gibbet,'  and  which  are  them- 
selves cited  from  Deut.  xxi.  22,  undoubtedly  suggest  a 
particular  drift  of  reflection.  And  it  may  be  noted  that 
the  reference  is  found  not  only  here,  but  also  in  Acts  x.  39, 
Gal.  iii.  13,  and  (probably)  1  Pet.  ii.  24.  The  original 
passage  describes  the  man  who  is  '  hanged  on  a  gibbet ' 
as  '  accursed  by  God.'  What  can  be  the  meaning  of  a 
curse  tying  upon  One  who  was  perfectly  righteous  ?  We 
have  seen  that  the  idea  of  a  suffering  Messiah  was  read 
into  the  prophets  by  the  early  Christians.  The  suffering, 
the  curse,  must  somehow  be  related  to  human  sin.  Now 
already  in  Judaism  there  were  traces  of  the  belief  that  the 
merit  of  an  innocent  man  could  atone  for  a  guilty.1  This 
position  at  least  was  reached  in  the  primitive  Church,  for 
Paul  can  say  :  '  First  and  foremost,  I  passed  on  to  you 
what  I  had  myself  received,  namely  that  Christ  died  for 
our  eins,  as  the  Scriptures  had  said.'  2  It  is  instructive  to 
notice  that  on  this  crucial  matter  Paul  appeals  not  to  any 
saying  of  the  Master  but  to  the  Old  Testament  as  inter- 
preted in  the  Church.  If  we  ask  what  Scriptures  were  so 
expounded,  Isaiah  liii.  will  inevitably  suggest  itself.  As 
soon  as  the  earliest  Christians  began  to  explore  the  Old 
Testament  for  light  on  the  stumbhng-block  of  the  cross, 
they  were  bound  to  be  impressed  by  the  extraordinary 
delineation  of  the  Servant  of  Jahweh  in  that  chapter. 
There  they  read  of  one  who  was  '  despised  and  rejected  of 
men,'  who  *  was  wounded  for  our  transgressions  and  bruised 
for  our  iniquities,'  who  '  was  brought  as  a  lamb  to  the 
slaughter,  and  as  a  sheep  before  her  shearers  is  dumb,  so 
he  openeth  not  his  mouth.'  But  of  peculiar  significance 
would  be  the  declaration  of  ver.  10  :  k  If  he  should  make 
his  soul  an  offering  for  sin,  he  should  see  his  seed,  he  should 
prolong  his  days,  and  the  pleasure  of  the  Lord  should 
prosper  in  his  hand.'  The  idea  of  the  sin-offering  would 
illuminate  the  mystery  of  Deut.  xxi.  22  f.  The  cross 
u  on  Id  receive  a  profound  meaning  in  the  light  of  the 
prophetic  word  :    '  The  Lord  laid  on  him  the  iniquity  of  us 

■  4  Maccab.  xvii.  22.  *   1  Cor.  xv.  3  (M.). 


en.  v.]   ST.  PAUL  AND  THE  CHRISTIAN  TRADITION     117 

all '  (Isa.  liii.  G).  It  might  be  precarious  to  infer  a  definite 
doctrine  of  the  death  of  Christ  in  the  early  Church  from  the 
f ragmen taiy  data  at  our  disposal.  The  evidence  suggests 
that  it  was  interpreted  now  from  one  standpoint,  now  from 
another.  But  enough  material  has  survived  to  reveal  the 
germ  of  Paul's  conception  of  Christ  as  the  propitiation  and 
sin-bearer.  Indeed,  a  careful  examination  of  Isa.  liii.  in 
the  LXX  discloses  at  various  points  the  essential  back- 
ground of  Paul's  doctrinal  construction.  The  Servant 
'bears  our  sins'  (ras  a/zaoTuis  rjfiojv  (btpei).  He  'shall 
have  many  for  his  inheritance  and  shall  share  the  spoil 
of  the  strong,  because  his  life  [faxi)  was  delivered 
up  (7raf>t6u6ii) x  unto  death,  and  he  was  reckoned  among 
the  transgressors  (dvo/xois)  and  he  bore  (ui'ijveyKev)  the 
sins  of  many,  and  was  delivered  up  because  of  their 
transgressions.' 

We  have  observed  that  in  recording  the  traditions  which 
he  had  received  in  the  Church  regarding  the  death  of 
Christ,  Paul  appeals  to  the  authority  of  the  Old  Testament. 
Yet  the  Church  had  preserved  sayings  of  the  Lord  which 
could  at  least  find  some  place  in  the  scheme  of  thought  under 
review.  In  an  incidental  statement  of  the  purpose  of  His 
mission,  Jesus  declared  that  He  had  come  '  not  to  be  served 
(SiaKov-qOrjvai)  but  to  serve,  and  to  give  his  life  ($VX1V) 
a  ransom  (Ai't/ooi)  for  many.'  2  It  is  difficult  not  to 
discern  here  the  influence  upon  His  religious  thought  of  the 
Servant-passages.  The  same  thing  is  true  of  His  remark- 
able utterance  at  the  Last  Supper  :  '  This  is  my  blood  of 
the  covenant  (or,  '  the  new  covenant  in  my  blood,'  so 
Luke  and  Paul)  poured  out  for  many.'  3  For  in  Isa.  xlix. 
8,  9  the  Servant  is  described  as  '  given  for  a  covenant  of 
the  people  .  .  .  that  thou  mayest  say  to  the  prisoners,  Go 
forth  :  to  them  that  are  in  darkness,  Show  yourselves.'  4 
These,  and  other  passages  which  might  be  quoted  from  the 

1  Used  bv  Paul  in  his  central  statements  regarding  the  death  of  Christ  : 
e.g.  Rom.  iv.  25,  viii.  32  ;   Gal.  ii.  20  ;   Eph.  v.  2,  25. 
8  Mark  x.  45  and  parallels. 
8  Mark  xiv.  24. 
*  The  best  MSS.  of  the  LXX  have  the  '  covenant '  in  verse  6  as  well. 


118  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  i. 

Gospels,  indicate  that  Jesus'  thoughts  on  the  profoundest 
aspects  of  His  own  mission  were  moving  among  Old  Testa- 
ment forecasts  and  symbols,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  the  wonderful  figure  of  the  '  Servant '  exercised  a 
unique  influence  upon  His  Messianic  consciousness.1 

1  See  a  series  of  articles  by  the  present  writer  on  '  The  Self  -consciousness 
of  Jesus  and  the  Servant  of  the  Lord,'  in  the  Expository  Times  for  1908. 


ch.  vi.J    FUNDAMENTAL  POSITIONS  OF  PAULINISM      119 


CHAPTER  Yl 

THE   FUNDAMENTAL  POSITIONS   OF  PAULINISM 

(a)  In  Christ 

In  the  preceding  chapters  an  attempt  hat  been  made  on 
the  basis  of  the  data  furnished  by  the  Epistles  to  set  forth, 
first,  the  features  characteristic  of  Paul's  pre-Christian 
religious  experience,  secondly,  those  conceptions  which 
were  brought  into  the  forefront  by  the  transformation  of 
that  experience  due  to  his  conversion,  and  finally,  the 
influences  already  dominant  in  the  early  Church  which 
seem  to  have  affected  the  apostle's  religious  thought. 
All  these  elements  must  have  had  normative  value  in  the 
shaping  of  his  fundamental  positions.  No  man  can  shake 
off  his  past  like  a  worn-out  garment.  His  ancestral 
heritage  of  ideas  will  assert  itself,  even  when  in  principle  he 
has  discarded  it.  The  symbolism  in  which  the  mind 
takes  refuge  has  a  strange  fashion  of  surviving,  after  the 
things  signified  have  been  seen  in  a  new  fight.  It  is 
needless,  in  view  of  Chapter  iv.,  to  lay  further  emphasis  on 
Paul's  spiritual  crisis.  In  each  section  of  our  present 
discussion  its  central  significance  becomes  more  and  more 
clear.  But  we  must  not  minimise  the  fact  that  Paul 
entered  a  society  in  which  a  theology  had  begun  to  take 
shape.  When  we  recognise  that  that  society  was  guided 
by  original  disciples  of  Jesus,  it  is  plain  that  he  could  not 
afford  to  ignore  interpretations  of  facts  and  experiences 
which  were  regarded  by  the  large  majority  of  Christians 
as  authoritative.  Keeping  all  these  factors  before  us  in 
their  right  proportions,  we  ought  to  be  able  to  outline  the 
fundamental  positions  of  Paulinism. 


120  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  l 

In  taking  as  our  starting-point  Paul's  famous  descrip- 
tion of  his  Christian  status,  we  would  endeavour  to  adhere 
to  the  genetic  method  which  was  vindicated  in  the  opening 
chapter.  We  are  least  likely  to  err  if  we  begin  with  that 
stratum  in  his  religion  in  which  Paul  himself  always  finds 
his  surest  standing -ground,  the  immediate  and  unassailable 
reality  of  his  personal  relation  to  Christ.  What,  then,  is 
the  content  of  the  phrase,  '  in  Christ,'  which  Paul  loves  to 
use  when  he  desires  to  represent  the  profoundest  aspect  of 
his  religious  life  ?  We  must  not  lay  too  much  stress  on 
the  form  of  the  expression,  and  yet  we  must  not  attempt  to 
explain  it  away.  The  impression  made  upon  Paul  by  the 
revelation  of  the  living  Lord  was  an  impression  of  boundless 
love  and  grace.  It  is  probable  that  in  his  pre-Christian 
days  he  had  heard  of  Jesus'  self-sacrificing  devotion  to  the 
needy  and  the  outcasts.  But  his  personal  experience  was 
decisive.  And  when  he  found  the  clue  to  Christ's  char- 
acter and  mission  in  the  voluntary  humiliation  of  the  cross, 
the  sense  of  a  love  inestimable  by  human  standards  over- 
powered him.  He  was  swept  away  in  its  current.  This 
infinite  love  claimed  him.  And  he  yielded  himself  up  to 
Christ  as  His  willing  slave.  Henceforward  his  connection 
with  Christ  was  the  primary  element  in  his  religious  life  : 
1  What  things  were  gain  to  me,  these  I  have  counted  loss 
for  Christ  :  indeed  I  count  anything  as  loss  compared  to 
the  supreme  value  of  knowing  Christ  Jesus  my  Lord. 
For  his  sake  I  have  lost  everything  (I  count  it  all  the 
veriest  refuse)  in  order  to  gain  Christ.'  l  The  consequence 
of  '  gaining  '  or  '  knowing  '  Christ  he  describes  as  being 
•  in  Christ.'  As  the  result  of  a  searching  investigation  of 
the  phrase,  Deissmann  *2  reaches  the  following  conclusion  : 
'The  formula  iv  %.purr$  constructed  ...  by  Paul  char- 
acterises the  relation  of  the  Christian  to  Jesus  Christ  as 
an  existence  in  the  pneumatics  Christ  to  be  conceived 
locally.  This  thought,  for  which  there  is  no  analogy  in 
any  relai  k>D  of  man  i<>  man,  we  may  clarify  by  means  of  the 

'  Phil.  iii.  7-8  (chiefli  If.). 

*  Die  ntuiettamenUx  'in  OhHtto  Juut%  pp.  97,  P8. 


en.  vi.  I    FUNDAMENTAL  POSITIONS  OF  PAULINISM      121 

analogy  of  the  notion  underlying  the  phrases  kv  -nvkvuxri 
and  kv  tcu  0to",  the  notion  of  dwelling  in  a  Pneuma -element 
which  may  be  compared  to  the  air.  The  question  whether 
we  have  to  take  the  local  idea,  which  is  the  basis  of  the 
formula,  in  its  proper  sense  or  merely  as  a  rhetorical  meta- 
phor, cannot  be  decided  with  certainty,  yet  the  former 
alternative  has  a  higher  degree  of  probability.  In  any 
case,  whether  it  is  to  be  understood  literally  or  metaphoric- 
ally, the  formula  is  the  characteristic  expression  for  the 
profoundest  fellowship  conceivable  between  the  Christian 
and  the  living  Christ.' 

The  statement  is  illuminating,  even  although  we  may  not 
assent  to  all  its  positions.  It  is  true  that  we  cannot  rule 
out  the  possibility  that  Paul  conceived  '  spirit '  in  a  semi- 
physical  sense,  although  there  are  no  clear  indications  of 
this  in  the  Epistles.  And  we  must  certainly  correlate  the 
formula  '  in  Christ '  with  that  which  may  be  substituted  for 
it,  '  in  the  Spirit.'  But  it  would  be  hazardous  to  press  the 
'  local '  significance  of  the  formula,  as  Deissmann  is  inclined 
to  do.  Indeed  it  seems  highly  probable  that  the  usage  is 
metaphorical,  when  we  recollect  that  Paul  describes  the 
same  personal  relationship  by  saying  :  '  Christ  lives  in 
me.'  x  Here  the  element  which  might  be  compared  to  the 
air  would  be  Paul's  human  nature,  which  is  obviously  out 
of  the  question.  If  it  be  observed  that  these  interchange- 
able phrases  primarily  denote  the  interaction  of  two  wills, 
the  will  of  Christ  which  dominates  and  inspires  the  inmost 
life  of  the  Christian,  and  the  will  of  the  Christian  which 
submits  to  and  glories  in  that  sovereignty,  suggestions 
of  '  locality  '  seem  irrelevant.  Nor  is  a  literal  interpreta- 
tion necessary.  Paul's  Epistles  abound  in  examples  of 
metaphors  equally  daring. 

But  we  must  not  go  to  the  other  extreme,  and  thin 
down  the  apostle's  conception.  If  any  conviction  was 
central  for  his  religious  life,  it  was  that  of  communion  with 
Christ.  His  most  famous  description  of  the  experience 
occurs  in  the  passage  to  which  reference  has  been  made 

1  Gal.  ii.  20. 


122  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft.  i 

above  :  '  I  have  been  crucified  with  Christ,  so  it  is  no  longer 
I  that  live,  but  Christ  lives  in  me  :  and  the  life  which  I  now 
live  in  the  flesh,  I  live  by  faith,  faith  in  the  Son  of  God  who 
loved  me  and  gave  himself  for  me.'  l  The  same  intimacy 
of  relationship  is  expressed,  almost  incidentally,  in  1  Cor. 
vi.  17  :  'He  who  joins  himself  to  the  Lord  is  one  spirit 
[with  him].'  In  Rom.  vi.  5  he  asserts  that  '  if  we  have 
grown  into  him  [Christ]  by  a  death  like  his,  we  shall  grow 
into  him  by  a  resurrection  like  his.'  2  How  much  does 
this  involve  ?  Does  it  mean  that  the  fundamental  element 
in  Paul  was  a  mystic  absorption  in  Christ  ?  It  has  become 
fashionable  to  emphasise  the  mysticism  of  Paul.  And  if 
by  '  mysticism  '  we  mean  that  contact  between  the  human 
and  the  Divine  which  forms  the  core  of  the  deepest  religious 
experience,  but  which  can  only  be  felt  as  an  immediate 
intuition  of  the  highest  reality  and  cannot  be  described 
in  the  language  of  psychology,  the  emphasis  is  thoroughly 
justified.3  Over  and  over  again  Paul  bears  witness  to  this 
unfathomable  intimacy  between  himself  and  the  exalted 
Christ  and  all  that  it  means  for  his  personal  life,  although 
he  nowhere  attempts  to  analyse  its  significance.  Thus, 
in  Phil.  iv.  13  he  makes  the  triumphant  confession  :  '  I 
can  do  all  things  in  him  that  strengthens  me.'  And  the 
same  type  of  experience  lies  behind  the  uplifting  assurance 
that  came  to  him  from  Christ :  '  My  grace  is  sufficient  for 
you,  for  my  power  is  perfected  in  weakness.'  4  Even  more. 
We  may  frankly  admit  that  some  of  those  visions  to  which 
he  refers  might  be  called  mystical  in  a  strict  sense,  notably 
his  '  rapture '  to  the  third  heaven,  narrated  with  such 
emotion  in  2  Cor.  xii.  But,  as  J.  Weiss  pointedly  remarks, 
the  fact  that  he  mentions  them  in  detail  shows  that  they 
cannot  have  been  frequent  occurrences.5  Indeed  there  is 
no  trace  of  the  characteristically  mystical  idea  of  absorption 
in  God  or  in  Christ.  Even  in  the  famous  passage  quoted 
above,  in  which  his  language  suggests  that  his  own  individu- 

>  Gal.  ii.  20.  •  M. 

•  '  Up  to  a  certain    point  all  Christians  are  mystics  '   (Bigg,  Epp.  of 
St   Peter  and  St.  Jude,  p.  viii). 

•  2  Cur.  xii.  9.  Dew  Urckriatenium,  p.  397. 


ch.  vi.]    FUNDAMENTAL  POSITIONS  OF  PAULINISM      123 

ality  has  been  replaced  by  that  of  Christ,  he  guards  against 
any  interpretation  which  might  be  termed  mystical  in  the 
technical  sense  by  proceeding  to  describe  his  life  as  strictly 
personal,  a  life  of  faith  in  the  Son  of  God. 

Here  we  touch  the  very  foundation  of  Paul's  religious 
experience.  The  appeal  of  the  love  and  grace  of  Christ, 
of  which  he  became  conscious  at  his  conversion,  penetrated 
to  his  inmost  being.  It  set  in  motion  all  the  activities 
of  his  soul.  And  this  response,  which  carried  his  whole 
nature  with  it,  he  calls  Faith.  We  have  already  seen  how 
much  faith  includes  for  Paul :  how  it  takes  into  account 
the  historical  basis  of  the  Gospel  in  the  incarnation,  death, 
and  resurrection  of  Jesus  :  how  it  interprets  these  in  the 
light  of  the  revelation  made  to  him  as  an  individual :  how 
it  is  woven  of  love  and  adoration  and  trust  and  obedience. 
The  relationship  of  faith  does  not  imply  for  Paul  the  dis- 
solving of  the  separate  personalities  involved,  and  the 
blending  of  them  in  one.  Although  he  can  speak  of  being 
'  in  Christ,'  yet  he  looks  forward  to  being  '  with  Christ.' 1 
Faith  remains  throughout  the  link  which  binds  the 
'bond-servant'  (ooPA.o*)  to  his  '  Lord '  (Kvpio' ).  The  union 
is  one  of  dependence,  not  absorption.  But  that  does 
not  derogate  from  its  reality  and  power.  Rather  does  it 
prevent  the  relation  from  becoming  mere  contemplative 
ecstasy.  It  is  the  channel  by  which  Divine  resources  are 
imparted.  And  the  supreme  Divine  gift  which  is  bestowed 
on  faith  is  that  of  the  Spirit.2 

But  in  this  connection  the  Spirit  is  scarcely  distin- 
guishable from  Christ  Himself.  Paul's  statement  in  Rom. 
viii.  9,  10  reveals  his  point  of  view  :  '  You  are  not  in  the 
flesh  but  in  the  Spirit  if  the  Spirit  of  God  dwells  in  you. 
Now  if  any  one  have  not  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  he  does  not 
belong  to  him.  But  if  Ob:ri«t  be  in  you,  the  body  indeed  is 
dead  because  of  sin,  but  the  Spirit  is  life  because  of  righteous- 
ness.' Here  Christ  and  the  Spirit  are  virtually  synonymous. 
Probably  we  should  be  most  true  to  Paul's  standpoint  in 
saying  that  he  regards  Christ  as  operating  in  the  inner  life 

1  Phil.  i.  23.  2  E.g.  Gal.  iii.  ?. 


124  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  I. 

of  the  Christian  through  the  Spirit.1  From  this  activity 
of  the  exalted  Lord  are  derived  all  the  highest  blessings 
of  the  Christian  life.  These  we  must  examine  in  a  later 
paragraph.  Meanwhile  it  ought  to  be  noted  that  this 
supremely  intimate  relation  of  union  with  Christ  con- 
stitutes for  Paul  the  pre -supposition  of  everything  that 
counts  in  salvation.  Without  anticipating  our  subsequent 
discussion  of  such  central  Pauline  ideas  as  justification, 
death  to  sin,  and  the  final  redemption,  we  must  briefly 
notice  the  bearing  upon  them  of  the  present  conception. 
While  in  his  more  theoretical  and  controversial  statements 
Paul  follows  an  *  order  of  salvation  '  which  implies  successive 
stages,  as  a  matter  of  practical  experience  their  common 
basis  is  found  in  union  with  Christ.  That  is  the  apostle's 
religious  starting-point.  His  doctrinal  constructions  are 
interpretations  of  it.  When  he  speaks  of  God  justifying  a 
man  because  of  his  faith,  receiving  him  into  a  new  relation, 
the  relation  of  a  child  to  his  Father,  his  language  seems  at 
times  unduly  to  objectify  the  process,  to  keep  it  apart 
from  the  experience  of  the  individual.  But  for  Paul  the 
very  existence  of  faith  means  that  the  subject  of  it  is  'in 
Christ.'  Hence,  all  God's  dealings  with  the  individual 
stand  on  that  footing.  To  quote  the  apostle  himself, 
God's  grace  is  '  bestowed  on  us  in  the  Beloved.'  2  That 
is  to  say,  God  comes  into  touch  with  men  in  virtue  of  their 
relation  to  Christ.  So  too  with  the  nature  of  the  new  life. 
Paul  has  formulated,  as  we  shall  discover  in  the  next 
section,  something  of  a  theory  regarding  the  '  death  '  of 

1  J.  Weiss  (op.  cit.,  p.  356,  note  3)  suggestively  illustrates  Paul's  usage 
from  Philo's  doctrine  of  the  '  powers  '  of  God  which  penetrate  into  the 
world  and  man.  He  quotes  from  Zeller'a  exposition  (Phil.  d.  Griechen 
iii.  2,  p.  306)  :  '  In  his  doctrine  of  the  Powers,  two  ideas  cross,  the  religious 
conception  of  personal  mediating  beings,  and  the  philosophical  of  imper- 
sonal :  he  unites  both,  without  observing  their  contradiction  :  indeed 
he  cannot  possibly  observe  it,  because  otherwise  the  role  of  mediators, 
the  double  nature  of  the  Divine  Powers,  would  at  once  be  lost,  by  means 
of  which  on  the  one  hand  they  must  be  identical  with  God,  so  that  it 
might  he  possible  for  a  finite  being  bj  means  of  thorn  to  partake  of 
Deity,  v.hiit:  on  the  other  they  must  be  <  parate  from  Him,  in  ordor  thnt 
Deity,  in  spite  of  this  participation,  should  remain  apart  from  any  contact 
With  the  world.' 

•  Kph.  L  8  (M.). 


ch.  vi.]    FUNDAMENTAL  POSITIONS  OF  PAULINISM       125 

the  believer  to  sin.  That  theory  is  implicated  in  his  con- 
ceptions of  the  Flesh  and  the  Law.  But  when  you  get 
behind  his  logic,  you  reach  the  crucial  fact  that  the  man 
who  is  in  intimate  connection  with  Christ,  from  the  nature 
of  the  case  feels  the  utter  incongruity  of  sin,  and  must 
break  with  it  if  that  connection  is  to  endure.  In  union 
with  Christ  he  takes  Christ's  attitude  towards  sin  and 
Christ's  attitude  towards  holiness.  Contact  with  Christ 
can  mean  nothing  else  than  new  life.  '  If  any  man  be  in 
Christ,  he  is  a  new  creature  :  the  old  things  have  passed 
away  :  new  things  have  come  into  being.'  *  Plainly,  this 
relation  to  Christ  is  also  the  guarantee  of  a  completed 
salvation.  To  have  a  part  in  it  is  to  share  in  His  whole 
experience  :  to  die  with  Him,  to  rise  with  Him,  to  be 
changed  into  His  likeness  as  exalted,  that  condition  which 
Paul  calls  '  glory.'  '  You  died,  and  your  life  has  been  hid 
with  Christ  in  God  :  when  Christ,  our  life,  shall  be  revealed, 
then  you  also  shall  be  revealed  with  him  in  glory.' 2  The 
pledge  of  final  redemption,  that  redemption  of  the  whole 
personality  on  which  Paul  laid  so  much  emphasis,  is  often 
identified  with  the  gift  of  the  Spirit.3  But  this  only  con- 
firms the  fact  already  indicated,  that  Paul  regards  this 
vital  union  of  the  believer  with  Christ  as  mediated  by  the 
Spirit,  through  whom  God  meets  faith. 

(b)  The  Crucified  Redeemer 

It  may  be  truly  said  that  when  Paul  speaks  of  the  death 
of  Christ,  the  resurrection  stands  in  the  background  of  his 
mind.  He  invariably  interprets  the  cross  in  the  fight  of 
the  resurrection.  This  follows  the  order  of  his  religious 
experience.  It  was  the  risen  Christ  he  came  to  know  in  the 
spiritual  crisis  of  his  career.  And  this  knowledge,  which  is 
far  deeper  and  larger  than  a  mere  intellectual  process, 
remains  the  foundation  of  his  victorious  Christian  life.  It 
is   the   condition   of   that   central   relationship   which   is 

1   2  Cor.  v.  17.  *  Col.  hi.  3,  4. 

8  E.g.  2  Cor.  v.  6,  i.  22  ;   Eph.  i.  13,  14. 


126  THE  THEOLOGY"  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  i. 

expressed  by  the  phrase,  '  union  with  Christ.'  But  the 
living  Lord  to  whom  he  clings  with  all  the  might  of  his 
unfaltering  faith  has  passed  through  death,  the  degrading 
death  of  the  cross.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  Paul 
recalls  a  personal  impression  when  he  describes  Christ 
crucified  as  a  '  cause  of  stumbling '  (a-KavBakov)  to  the 
Jews.1  Even  when  the  accounts  of  Jesus  which  reached 
him  in  his  persecuting  zeal  disclosed  features  so  rare  as  to 
prompt  to  caution  in  his  project,  the  conception  of  a 
crucified  Messiah  closed  his  mind,  and  hardened  his  resolve 
to  extirpate  such  blasphemy.  And  now  he  had  discovered 
in  this  degraded  impostor  '  life-giving  Spirit.'  The  Christ 
whom  he  knew  as  the  source  of  inward  power,  the  Christ 
who  had  convinced  him  of  the  boundless  love  of  God,  had 
met  and  conquered  death.  His  crowning  vision  of  Christ 
was  a  vision  of  love.  Love  was  the  clue  to  His  words  and 
deeds.  Such  was  the  tradition  of  those  who  had  companied 
with  Him.  But  Paul  had  no  need  of  evidence  at  second- 
hand. The  love  of  Christ  had  been  demonstrated  to  him 
immediately.  Tradition  merely  confirmed  his  experience. 
Must  not  Christ's  death  also  be  illumined  by  love  ?  Must 
it  not  serve  some  generous  purpose  ?  When  questions 
like  these  emerged,  it  is  plain  that  the  death  of  Christ 
would  become  the  subject  of  Paul's  profoundest  reflection. 
He  was  compelled  to  start  with  certain  assumptions, 
assumptions  about  which  he  never  argued.  Christ  was  the 
sinless  Son  of  God.  Paul  shared  that  position  with  the 
whole  early  Church.  Yet  Christ  had  suffered  death.  Now, 
for  Paul  as  a  Jewish  thinker  death  was  the  penalty  of  sin. 
1  The  wages  of  sin,'  he  declares,  '  is  death  '  : 2  '  through 
sin  came  death.'  3  Here  he  stood  in  line  with  the  great 
prophetic  tradition  :  '  the  soul  that  sinneth  it  shall  die.'  4 
The  tradition  was  handed  on  in  the  Rabbinic  schools. 
'  Satan  and  Yezer  (the  Evil  Impulse)  and  the  Angel  of 
Death,'  said  R.  Simon  b.  Lakish,  '  are  one.'  5     '  See,  my 


1    1  Cor.  i.  23;    cf.  Gal.  v.  11. 

•  Rom.  vi.  23.  *  Rom.  v.  12.  *  Ezek.  xvm.  4. 

*  liaba  Bathra,  16a  (qu.  by  Schechter,  Some  Aspects  of  Rabbinic  Theology, 
p.  244). 


ch.  vi.]    FUNDAMENTAL  POSITIONS  OF  PAULINISM      127 

children,'  said  R.  Chaninah  b.  Dosa  to  his  disciples,  '  it  is 
sin  that  kills.'  l  There  is  little  doubt  that  when  Paul 
speaks  of  death,  he  regards  it  synthetically,  not  distin- 
guishing, as  we  are  wont  to  do,  between  its  physical  and 
spiritual  aspects,  but  viewing  the  experience  in  its  entirety 
as  involving  primarily  separation  from  God.  That  Jesus 
Christ,  being  what  He  was,  should  die,  was  to  his  mind  a 
perplexing  problem.  But  the  perplexity  was  intensified 
as  he  reflected  on  the  nature  of  Christ's  death.  It  was 
death  by  crucifixion.  The  degradation  of  such  a  doom  was 
universally  acknowledged.  '  May  the  very  name  of  a  cross 
be  far  removed  not  only  from  the  bodies  of  Roman  citizens, 
but  even  from  their  thoughts,  their  sight,  their  hearing.'  2 
In  the  Pentateuch  it  was  singled  out  for  special  execration  : 
1  Cursed  by  God  is  every  one  who  is  hanged  on  a  tree.'  3 
Paul  leaves  out  the  words  '  by  God  '  when  he  associates  the 
passage  with  the  death  of  Christ,  but  his  quotation  of  it  in 
Gal.  iii.  13  shows  its  importance  for  his  thought.  This 
particular  death  lies  under  the  curse  of  the  Law.  And 
Paul  cannot  tear  his  mind  away  from  the  significance  of  such 
a  ban.  '  He  humbled  himself,  becoming  obedient  as  far 
as  death,  and  that  the  death  of  the  cross.'  4  What  could 
this  unspeakable  shame  mean  for  the  Messiah  of  God, 
the  '  Lord  of  glory '  ?  Christ  could  not  lie  under  any 
Divine  curse.  The  thought  was  blasphemy.  And  yet,  as 
Paul  was  convinced,  Christ  had  given  Himself  willingly  to 
the  cross. 

We  have  already  tried  to  estimate  the  interpretations  of 
the  death  of  Christ  which  Paul  must  have  found  in  the 
Christian  community  when  he  entered  it.  Although  the 
data  are  meagre,  it  is  plain  that  two  main  traditions  were 
being  emphasised.  On  the  one  hand,  the  crucifixion  was 
no  mere  accident,  but  an  integral  part  of  the  Divine  pur- 
pose. On  the  other,  it  was  felt  that  the  whole  experience 
was  illuminated  by  the  mysterious  hints  and  suggestions 

1  Berachoth,  33a  (qu.  by  Sehechter,  op.  cit.,  p.  247). 

*  Cic.  pro  C.  Rabirio,  v.  10. 

»  Deut.  xxi.  23  (LXX).  *  Phil.  ii.  8. 


128  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  i. 

of  such  Old  Testament  passages  as  Isaiah  liii.  There, 
unquestionably,  the  '  Servant  of  Jahweh  '  was  represented 
as  bearing  the  burden  of  sins  not  His  own,  as  giving  Himself 
for  a  sin-offering.  Hence  the  idea  of  propitiation,  which 
in  post-exilic  Judaism  received  an  extraordinary  promin- 
ence in  the  sacrificial  system,  was  sure  to  attach  itself 
to  reflection  on  the  death  of  Christ.  It  is  also  noteworthy 
that  in  4  Maccabees  (xvii.  22,  vi.  29),  a  Jewish  document 
which  probably  belongs  to  the  first  half  of  the  first  century 
a.d.,  the  conception  that  righteous  men  atone  for  sinners 
is  clearly  set  forth.  We  have  seen  that  the  language  which 
Paul  often  uses  in  connection  with  the  death  of  Christ 
reflects  the  terminology  of  Isaiah  liii.  And  the  fact  that 
Jesus'  own  mind,  when  He  spoke  of  the  significance  of  His 
mission,  reveals  the  influence  of  these  Old  Testament  ideas, 
must  have  powerfully  affected  the  drift  of  Paul's  thought. 
It  is  probably  accurate  to  say  that  Paul  has  no  fully 
elaborated  theory  of  the  significance  of  the  death  of 
Christ,  but  we  can  discern  the  outlines  of  certain  attempted 
constructions.  These  have  their  starting-point  in  prin- 
ciples belonging  to  the  religious  heritage  of  his  race, 
modified  by  his  personal  experience  and  interpreted  in  the 
light  of  his  communion  with  the  risen  Lord.  We  might 
expect  that  one  who  had  found  his  sorest  bondage  in  the 
tyranny  of  the  Law  and  who  regarded  its  claims,  which 
he  could  not  satisfy,  as  Aggravating  sin  and  provoking 
resentment  against  God,  would  bring  the  death  of  Christ 
into  some  connection  with  his  deliverance.  This  he  does 
from  two  divergent  but  related  standpoints.  First  of  all, 
he  regards  men  as  confronted  by  the  Law  as  an  imperious, 
almost  personified  power,  which  issues  its  commands  and 
punishes  disobedience.  Now  men  were  unable  to  render  a 
complete  obedience,  they  were  unable  to  achieve  righteous- 
ness. But  for  the  Law  it  was  all  or  nothing.  Those  who 
failed  came  under  its  curse.1  Here  is  one  ray  of  light  for 
him  on  the  mystery  of  the  cross.  Here  is  an  explanation 
of  the  curse  which  Christ  voluntarily  bore.  '  Christ 
»  Gal.  iii.  1U. 


ch.  vi.]    FUNDAMENTAL  POSITIONS  OF  PAULINISM      129 

redeemed  us  from  the  curse  of  the  law,  having  become 
accursed  on  our  behalf.'  x  He  had  never  been  guilty  of 
disobedience.  But  in  accordance  with  the  will  of  the 
Father  He  suffered  for  men  the  penalty  of  the  broken  Law  : 
it  exhausted  its  claim  in  the  vicarious  Redeemer.  For  it 
was  a  recognised  principle  that '  he  who  has  died  is  absolved 
from  sin.' 2  Those,  therefore,  who  are  united  to  Him  by 
faith  are  for  ever  released  from  its  obligations.  They  have 
no  longer  to  torment  themselves  with  a  fruitless  struggle. 
Christ  is  '  the  end  of  the  law  with  a  view  to  righteousness 
to  every  believer.'  3  '  Him  who  knew  not  sin  he  (God)  made 
sin  on  our  behalf  (i.e.  dealt  with  as  a  sinner :  appointed 
for  him  the  cross)  that  we  might  become  the  righteousness 
of  God  in  him.'  4  They  are  accepted  in  Christ.5  In  Him 
a  right  relation  to  God  becomes  once  for  all  possible. 

More  or  less  closely  linked  with  this  is  another  inter- 
pretation on  which  he  lays  emphasis.  In  Rom.  viii.  3 
he  refers  the  ineffectiveness  of  the  Law  in  procuring  right- 
eousness to  the  resistance  of  the  flesh.  The  '  flesh,'  as 
we  have  seen,  is  Paul's  description  of  human  nature  as  it  is 
known  in  actual  experience,  i.e.  as  defiled  by  sin.  Sin, 
like  the  Law,  is  represented  almost  as  a  personal  Power. 
It  wars  against  the  higher  aspirations  of  the  soul  and  pre- 
vents obedience  to  the  righteous  will  of  God.  Therefore 
if  sin  is  to  be  vanquished,  the  flesh  must  somehow  be  robbed 
of  its  vitality.  Now  Christ,  in  becoming  incarnate, 
entered  into  the  common  life  of  humanity,  conceived  by 
Paul  as  the  living  organism  of  '  sinful  flesh/  6  in  order  to 
redeem  it.  His  death  was  a  judgment  upon  the  flesh, 
i.e.  upon  sinful  human  nature  with  which  He  had  identified 
Himself,  and  which  He  represented  as  the  Second  Adam.7 
Those  who  become  one  with  Him  through  faith  are  included 
in  that  judgment.  But  in  the  death  which  was  sin's 
condemnation  He  passed  out  of  all  relation  to  sin.8  The 
resurrection  was  the  triumphant  proof  that  He  had  got 

1  Gal.  iii.  13.  2  Rom.  vi.  7. 

3  Rom.  x.  4.  *  2  Cor.  v.  21. 

•  Eph.  i.  6.  6  Rom.  viii.  3. 

7  1  Cor.  xv.  22,  45;  Rom.  v.  12-19.                   8  Rom.  vi.  10. 

I 


130  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft.  i. 

beyond  the  reach  of  its  dominion.  So  all  who  have  been 
united  with  Him  are  sharers  in  His  crucifixion  and  His 
resurrection.1  Their  old  nature  was  crucified  along  with 
Him.  They  now  live  in  Him  to  God.2  This  new  life  into 
which  they  have  passed  is  the  life  of  the  Spirit.3 

These  closely  related  interpretations  of  the  death  of 
Christ  are  perhaps  the  nearest  approach  on  Paul's  part  to 
a  theoretical  construction.  It  is  easy  to  see  how  the  ideas 
of  atonement  and  sacrifice  may  be  found  in  them,  although 
they  are  not  definitely  expressed.  In  the  first  instance, 
Christ  is  represented  as  giving  Himself  up  willingly  to 
endure  that  which  men  merited  because  of  their  dis- 
obedience. He  atones  for  their  sins.  '  As  through  the 
disobedience  of  the  one  man  [Adam]  the  many  were 
constituted  sinners,  so  also  through  the  obedience  of  the 
one  the  many  shall  be  constituted  righteous.'  4  Through 
Him  they  receive  reconciliation  with  God.  In  the  second 
there  are  similar  implications.  Christ's  voluntary  death 
means  the  doom  of  sin,  that  sin  which  hindered  men  from 
entering  upon  the  right  relation  to  God.  So  He  removes 
all  barriers  and  enables  them  to  come  into  fellowship  with 
the  Father  through  Himself.  It  is  obvious,  however,  that 
there  is  no  attempt  to  equate  the  sacrifice  with  any  special 
rite  of  Jewish  ceremonial.  Even  when  in  1  Cor.  v.  7  (M.) 
he  says,  '  Christ,  our  paschal  lamb,  was  sacrificed,'  the 
context  shows  that  he  is  only  using  a  metaphor.  A  similar 
general  statement  in  Rom.  iii.  24  f.  suggests  that  we  are 
not  to  ask  in  detail  what  constitutes  the  propitiation  : 
'  Justified  for  nothing  by  his  grace  through  the  redemption 
which  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  whom  God  set  forth  in  propitiatory 
power  6  by  his  blood  (i.e.  by  his  death)  to  be  received  by 
faith.'  7  The  clause  which  follows, '  in  order  to  demonstrate 
his  righteousness  at  the  present  time,  that  he  might  be 
righteous  himself,  and  accept  as  righteous  him  who  believes 
in  Jesus,'  simply  pointe  out  that  the  cross  makes  plain  that 

1  Rom.  vi.  6;   Gal.  ii.  19.         a  Rom.  vi.  11. 

J  Rom.  viii.  10.  *  Rom.  v.  19.  *  2  Cor.  v.  18. 

•  So  Denney.  '  Rom.  iii.  24,  25. 


ch.  vi.]    FUNDAMENTAL  POSITIONS  OF  PAULINISM      131 

God  cannot  trifle  with  sin,  for  there  Christ  submits  to  its 
doom,  and  that  all  who,  in  union  with  Him,  assent  to  this 
judgment  of  God  upon  sin,  are  accepted  in  His  sight  as 
righteous.  Paul  makes  no  attempt  to  explain  the  precise 
bearing  of  the  propitiation  on  God. 

Plainly,  his  treatment  of  the  theme  is  many-sided.  He 
seems  to  be  feeling  out  for  analogies  (necessarily  imperfect) 
by  which  he  can  express  the  discovery  which  has  flashed 
upon  his  inmost  soul,  that  the  Divine  heart  suffers  in  and 
with  and  for  the  sin  of  the  world.  As  Wernle  has  well 
said,1  '  Paul  interpreted  the  atoning  death  from  above, 
instead  of  from  beneath.'  In  his  view,  God  is  the  inspiring 
Power  in  it  from  beginning  to  end.  Nothing  is  so  true  to 
his  profoundest  conception  as  the  statement  that  '  God  was 
in  Christ  reconciling  the  world  unto  himself.'  2  For  Paul's 
deepest  experience  there  was  no  sense  of  a  transaction 
between  the  Father  and  the  Son.  The  Divine  attitude  of 
grace  towards  the  sinful  is  paramount. 

It  may  be  well  at  this  point  to  illustrate  in  a  few  sentences 
the  richness  and  breadth  of  Paul's  interpretation  of  the 
death  of  Christ,  gathering  up  part  of  the  material  which 
has  already  been  used,  (a)  Often  he  simply  emphasises  the 
fact  of  Christ's  love  in  dying  :  e.g.  Gal.  ii.  20,  '  The  Son 
of  God,  who  loved  me  and  gave  himself  for  me '  ;  2  Cor. 
v.  14,  '  The  love  of  Christ  constrains  us  who  have  reached 
this  conviction,  one  died  for  all.'  (b)  He  also  regards  the 
cross  as  an  overpowering  exhibition  of  the  love  of  God  : 
e.g.  Rom.  v.  8,  '  God  proves  his  own  love  towards  us, , 
because  while  we  were  still  sinners,  Christ  died  for  us  ' ; 
viii.  32,  'He  who  spared  not  his  own  Son,  but  gave  him 
up  for  us  all,  shall  he  not  with  him  give  us  all  else  besides  ? ' 
(c)  The  death  of  Christ  is  the  great  instrument  of  God's 
own  reconciliation  between  men  and  Himself  :  e.g.  Rom. 
v.  10,  '  If,  when  we  were  enemies,  we  were  reconciled  to 
God  by  the  death  of  his  Son  '  ;  2  Cor.  v.  19  (quoted  above). 
{d)  On  the  cross  Christ  made  atonement  for  sin  :  e.g. 
Rom.  v.  6,  '  While  we  were  still  weak,  Christ  died  in  due 
1  AnfUnge,  p.  146.  "  2  Cor.  v.  19. 


132  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  i. 

time  for  the  ungodly  '  ;  Rom.  iii.  24-26  (quoted  above) 
(e)  Christ's  death  is  a  redemption  from  evil  :  e.g.  Gal.  iii.  13, 
1  Christ  redeemed  us  from  the  curse  of  the  law,  having 
become  accursed  for  us  '  ;  Eph.  i.  7,  'In  whom  we  have 
redemption  through  his  blood,  the  forgiveness  of  our  sins.' 
(/)  Christ's  death  makes  possible  the  destruction  of  the 
principle  of  sin  in  human  nature  :  e.g.  Rom.  vi.  6,  '  Know- 
ing this  that  our  old  man  was  crucified  with  him,  that  the 
body  of  sin  might  be  destroyed,  so  that  we  should  no  longer 
be  in  bondage  to  sin'  ;  Rom.  viii.  3,  'God,  sending  his 
own  Son  in  the  likeness  of  sinful  death  and  for  sin,  con- 
demned sin  in  the  flesh.'  (g)  Christ's  death  is  a  willing 
sacrifice  on  His  part  :  e.g.  Eph.  v.  2,  '  As  Christ  also  loved 
us,  and  gave  himself  for  us  an  offering  and  a  sacrifice 
to  God  '  ;  1  Cor.  v.  7,  '  Christ,  our  paschal  lamb,  was 
sacrificed.' 

Tins  classification  is  by  no  means  exhaustive,  yet  it  is 
sufficient  to  reveal  the  depths  and  heights  which  Paul  had 
discovered  in  the  Cross  of  Christ.  It  suggests  that  the 
apostle  could  never  be  content  to  confine  the  interpretation 
of  so  unfathomable  an  aspect  of  the  self -manifestation  of 
God  to  men  within  the  frame-work  of  any  single  formula. 
Indeed,  his  discussion  of  what  he  calls  the  '  folly '  of  the 
cross  (1  Cor.  i.  18— ii.  5)  as  contrasted  with  the  more  intel- 
lectual or  rationalising  presentation  of  the  Gospel  which 
found  favour  at  Corinth,  and  which  he  designates  '  wisdom,' 
implies  that  he  trusted  to  the  direct  appeal  of  Christ 
crucified  to  the  restless,  sin-burdened  conscience. 

In  any  case,  the  ultimate  clue  to  the  meaning  of  the 
cross  for  Paul's  mind  is  to  be  found  in  his  own  experience. 
When  he  exclaims,  '  I  have  been  crucified  with  Christ,' 
or  when  he  declares,  '  We  were  buried  with  him  through  our 
baptism  into  his  death,  that  as  Christ  was  raised  from  the 
dead  through  the  glory  of  the  Father,  so  we  also  should 
walk  in  newness  of  fife,'  *  we  do  not  require  to  look  for  an 
explanation  of  his  figures  in  the  mystery -cults  of  Attis  or 
Osiris.     He  is  using  the  great  events  of  the  Passion  to  set 

1   Hum.  vi.  4. 


oh.  vi.]    FUNDAMENTAL  POSITIONS  OF  PAULINLSM      133 

forth  the  transformation  of  his  own  life  which  has  been 
brought  about  through  his  union  with  Christ  by  faith. 
As  Christ,  in  dying,  realised  to  the  full  the  Divine  judgment 
on  sin  and  never  flinched  from  His  loyalty  to  righteousness, 
so  the  Christian,  identifying  himself  with  Christ's  attitude 
to  sin,  through  the  power  of  Christ  in  his  soul  vanquishes 
the  evil  bias  of  his  nature.  As  Christ  could  not  be  holden 
of  death,  but,  in  virtue  of  the  Spirit  of  holiness  which  was 
His  life-principle,  rose  to  glory,  so  the  Christian,  clinging 
to  the  risen  Lord,  is  raised  into  the  new  atmosphere  of 
glad  obedience  to  the  Divine  will.1  Accordingly,  Paul's 
large  conception  of  the  death  of  Christ  is  an  endeavour, 
by  means  of  inherited  as  well  as  freshly  minted  ideas,  to 
expound  the  significance  of  his  contact  with  a  gracious, 
forgiving  God  in  Jesus  Christ.  However  theoretical  certain 
elements  in  it  may  appear,  the  heart  of  it  is  a  profound  and 
soul -satisfying  vision  of  God.  And  so  the  word  of  the 
cross  becomes  on  his  lips  a  call  to  repentance,  faith,  love, 
and  obedience. 


(c)  The  New  Relation  to  God — its  Beginning,  Development, 
and  Issues 

For  Paul,  religion  denoted  fundamentally  the  right  atti-j 
tude  to  God.  In  his  pre-Christian  days  he  had  taken  for 
granted  that  the  will  of  God  for  men  was  embodied  in 
the  legal  code  of  Judaisra.  Hence  men's  sole  obligation 
was  to  obey.  But  as  they  found  that  to  be  impossible, 
their  religious  outlook  was  hopeless.  There  was  nothing 
more  to  be  done.  The  supreme  wonder  of  Paul's  conver- 
sion-crisis was  that  there  God  took  the  initiative.  That 
was  his  unassailable  conviction.     The  God  who  met  him  in 

1  Paul  regards  the  ritual  of  Baptism  as  an  impressive  picture  of  the 
Christian's  crucial  experience.  As,  in  Christ's  name,  he  is  plunged  into 
the  baptismal  water,  he  passes  out  of  contact  with  his  old  environment, 
he  dies  to  his  past.  As  he  emerges  out  of  the  water,  he  enters  into  a  new 
environment,  which  is  the  realm  of  the  Spirit,  or  '  the  kingdom  of  the 
Son  of  God's  love  '  (Col.  i.  13).  To  associate  magical  notions  with  Paul's 
view  of  Baptism  is  to  misconceive  the  whole  manner  of  his  approucn  to 
Christ.     We  shall  discuss  the  topic  in  a  later  section. 


134  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft.  l 

Jesus  Christ  transferred  him  into  a  realm  of  forgiveness  and 
peace  and  hope.  Of  course  he  was  conscious  of  this 
gracious  transformation  long  before  he  attempted  to 
analyse  its  significance.  In  any  case  it  must  be  noted 
that  the  various  descriptions  he  gives  of  it  are  regulated  by 
the  circumstances  in  which  they  are  given  and  the  purposes 
for  which  they  are  intended.  We  do  not  for  a  moment 
minimise  the  central  importance  which  he  assigns  to  the 
conception  of  Justification  by  Faith.  But  in  this  case, 
too,  environment  counts.  It  is  not  accidental  that 
Justification  is  most  prominent  in  those  Epistles  which 
directly  reflect  the  burning  controversy  with  Judaism 
regarding  the  validity  of  the  Law  into  which  Paul  had  to 
plunge  for  the  defence  of  his  missionary  Gospel.  And  the 
very  emergence  of  this  controversy  intensified  the  emphasis 
which  he  laid  on  the  idea. 

J.  Weiss  may  be  right  in  asserting  that  the  most  com- 
prehensive description  of  salvation  in  Paul  is  Recon- 
ciliation.1 Both  here  and  in  Justification  the  crucial 
feature  consists,  as  we  have  suggested  above,  in  the 
initiative  of  God.  That  is  a  practical  certainty  for  Paul, 
whatever  be  the  terms  in  which  he  formulates  it.  And  he 
exults  in  it  as  the  antithesis  of  his  old  Pharisaic  belief. 
Let  us  observe  what  this  means.  For  Pharisaic  Judaism 
the  centre  of  gravity  lay  in  the  doctrine  of  Retribution  at 
God's  great  day  of  reckoning.  The  history  of  apocalyptic 
thought  shows  how,  along  with  the  growth  of  individualism 
in  religion,  a  growth  plainly  visible  in  Ezekiel,  who  has 
not  unfairly  been  called  c  the  father  of  apocalyptic,'  the 
idea  of  retribution  became  more  and  more  prominent, 
until  at  length  it  might  be  regarded,  in  Bousset's  phrase, 
as  '  the  shibboleth  of  the  pious.'  2  Now  originally  this 
conception  marked  a  deeper  understanding  of  the  moral 
order.  It  was  a  reaction  against  the  simple  and  super- 
ficial view  current  in  Israel,  that  righteousness  of  conduct 
was  rewarded  by  material  prosperity,  while  ungodliness 
was  visited  with  outward  affliction  and  loss.     But  when 

Op.  cit.,  p.  384.  •  Die  Heliyiun  d.  Judentuma,1        222. 


ch.  vi.]    FUNDAMENTAL  POSITIONS  OF  PAULINISM      135 

in  a  time  of  sore  calamity  men  could  only  appeal  to  the 
justice  of  God,  the  doctrine  was  apt  to  overshadow  other 
elements  in  the  Divine  action  which  could  not  be  ignored 
with  impunity.  For  sensitive  consciences  the  conception 
had  a  double  edge.  Soon  it  began  to  react  on  the  idea  of 
God  with  serious  consequences.  Judgment  became  the 
supreme  function  of  the  Almighty.  And  when  the  standard 
of  judgment  was  a*  elaborate  code  of  precepts,  it  was  no 
wonder  that  those  who  faced  the  facts  shuddered  with 
foreboding  at  the  thought  of  the  final  verdict. 

For  Paul,  Reconciliation  took  the  place  of  Retribution. 
On  the  basis  of  unassailable  personal  experience,  he  can 
describe  his  Gospel  as  '  the  ministry  of  reconciliation.'  x 
He  can  say  of  himself  :  '  I  am  an  ambassador  on  Christ's 
behalf,  God  appealing  by  me,  as  it  were,  I  entreat  you,  on 
Christ's  behalf,  to  be  reconciled  to  God.'  2  Through  his 
contact  with  the  risen  Christ,  his  whole  conception  of  the 
Divine  attitude  to  men  has  been  revolutionised.  God's 
disposition  towards  them  is  not  cold,  not  even  impartial. 
He  yearns  for  men's  love.  Christ's  sacrifice,  which  is  God's 
sacrifice,  is  the  convincing  demonstration  of  it.  So  Paul's 
Gospel,  which  is  really  the  formulation  of  his  own  discovery 
of  God  in  Christ,  pleads  with  men  to  accept  the  gift  which 
He  offers  in  His  Son,  to  allow  the  Father  to  restore 
His  erring  children  to  His  fellowship.  The  initial  step 
in  this  wonderful  redeeming  process  Paul  calls  '  being 
justified.'  Its  most  startling  expression  is  found  in  the 
phrase  :   '  He  that  justifies  the  ungodly.'  3 

It  need  scarcely  be  said  that  the  idea  of  Justification  has 
its  background  in  the  Old  Testament.  Typical  instances 
are  Isa.  v.  23  :  '  Woe  unto  them  .  .  .  which  justify  the 
wicked  for  a  bribe '  ;  4  and  Exod.  xxiii.  7  :  'I  will  not 
justify  the  wicked.'  5  These  passages  reveal  the  forensic 
meaning  of  the  term,  '  to  give  a  decision  in  favour  of.' 

1  2  Cor.  v.  18.  »  2  Cor.  v.  20.  •  Rom.  iv.  5. 

*  In  the   LXX  (which  Paul  Beems  always  to  use) :    o&ai  .  .  .  ol  8ucat- 

ovvres  rbv  dae^ij  Zvexev  8upcov. 

*  The  LXX  here  varies  from  the  Massoretio  text :  ov  SiKaulxrcit  rbv 
dcrc/S^  Hveicev  6u>pu)v.     F  omits  eveKev  8J}pu>v. 


136  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  i. 

That  of  course  implies  :  '  to  pronounce  them  not  guilty.' 
When  the  final  verdict  of  God  upon  individual  lives  was 
placed  in  the  forefront  of  Jewish  religious  thought,  the 
supreme  problem  for  anxious  souls  came  to  be  :  '  Shall  I 
be  acquitted  or  condemned,  declared  righteous  (SikcuojAt) vai) 
or  ungodly,  in  the  great  day  of  reckoning  ? '  The  question 
had  been  a  burning  one  for  Paul,  as  for  all  earnest  Pharisees. 
And  now  the  man  who  had  despaired  of  obtaining  a  favour- 
able verdict  on  the  ground  of  achieving  obedience  to  the 
law,  who  had  concluded  that  sin  was  too  strong  for  him, 
joyfully  recognises  that  a  new  order  has  been  unveiled. 
To  quote  his  own  words  :  '  Now  we  have  a  righteousness 
of  God  disclosed  apart  from  law  altogether  :  it  is  attested 
by  the  law  and  the  prophets,  but  it  is  a  righteousness  of 
God  which  comes  by  believing  in  Jesus  Christ.  And  it  is 
meant  for  all  who  have  faith.  No  distinctions  are  drawn. 
All  have  sinned,  all  come  short  of  the  glory  of  God,  but 
they  are  justified  for  nothing  by  his  grace  through  the 
ransom  provided  by  Christ  Jesus.'  1  In  this  connection  the 
new  attitude  or  relation  to  God  is  called  '  righteousness.' 
That  was  the  attainment  aimed  at  in  legal  obedience. 
Now  it  comes  or  is  brought  about,  not  by  laborious  efforts, 
but  by  believing  in  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  the  gift  of  God  to 
1  faith.  We  have  seen  what  faith  means  for  Paul  :  not  the 
assent  to  certain  truths,  although  that  is  included  :  not 
even  primarily  the  belief  that  God  is  and  that  He  is  the 
re  warder  of  those  that  diligently  seek  Him,2  although  that 
is  for  him  a  presupposition  :  but  the  trustful  surrender  of 
his  whole  being  to  Christ,  as  crucified  and  risen,  and  the 
complete  identification  of  himself  with  Christ's  attitude  to 
God  and  to  sin.  Hence  God's  gracious  judgment  on  a  life 
>unded,  as  Paul  represents  it  to  be,  on  faith,  is  not 
arbitrary  or  unreal.  It  presupposes  a  very  definite  relation 
to  Christ.  And  when  the  apostle  speaks  of  '  justifying  the 
ungodly,'  In;  means  that  the  sinner  has,  in  dependence  on 
Christ,  turned  his  face  in  a  new  direction,  and  that  God  in 

1   Horn.  iii.  21-lM  (M.).  ■  Heb.  xi.  6. 


en.  vi.]    FUNDAMENTAL  POSITIONS  OF  PAULINISM      137 

His  mercy  deals  with  him  as  with  one  who  has  made  a  fresh 
start.  Paul  is  too  practical  not  to  recognise  that  the  progress 
of  the  new  life  may  in  many  cases  be  slow.  That  accounts 
for  his  frequent  exhortations  to  members  of  the  Christian 
community  to  be  on  their  guard  against  evil,  e.g.  Rom. 
vi.  13  :  '  You  must  not  let  sin  have  your  members  for  the 
service  of  vice,  you  must  dedicate  yourselves  to  God  as 
men  who  have  been  brought  from  death  to  life.'  1  But 
he  has  such  complete  confidence  in  the  faithfulness  of  God, 
whose  purpose  of  love  lies  behind  every  changed  career, 
that  he  cannot  believe  that  a  life  in  which  the  Divine 
Spirit  has  begun  to  WT>rk  will  ever  be  lost.2 

Justification,  which  can  scarcely  be  distinguished  from 
forgiveness,  except  that  it  emphasises  the  positive  element  in 
God's  act  of  grace,  places  men  on  a  new  footing  in  relation 
to  God.  Peace  and  joy  take  possession  of  their  souls.  The 
love  of  God  is  shed  abroad  within  them  by  the  Holy  Spirit.3 
This  relationship,  from  which  fear  and  shrinking  are 
banished,  Paul  calls  Adoption.  The  term  sounds  technical, 
but  when  its  significance  is  examined  we  discover  the  very 
heart  of  Paul's  religion.  It  is  needless  to  look  for  its 
origin  in  the  usage  of  mystery -cults.  It  is,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  a  transcript  of  his  own  experience.  There  is 
only  a  formal  distinction  between  it  and  the  '  birth  from 
above  '  of  the  Fourth  Gospel.  In  the  one  case,  emphasis  is 
laid  on  admission  into  the  family  of  God,  in  the  other  on 
the  operation  of  the  life  of  God.  In  both  instances  the 
result  is  the  relation  of  a  son  or  child  to  the  Father.  Here, 
obviously,  Paul  comes  into  direct  line  with  the  central 
teaching  of  Jesus.  For  Jesus  the  child  is  the  emblem  of 
simplicity  and  artlessness.  He  loves  and  reverences  and 
depends  upon  his  Father.  He  trusts  Him  completely,  and 
is  sure  that  He  will  always  do  the  best  for  him.  These 
human  ties  are  but  dim  reflections  of  those  which  link  the 
soul  to  God.  But  Jesus'  use  of  them  indicates  that  in  the 
child  relationship  He  discerns  the  most  life-like  picture  of 

1  M.  *  E.g.  Phil.  i.  6. 

-  Rom.  v.  1,  5. 


138  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  i. 

that  fellowship  with  God  which  is  the  true  end  for  human 
personality. 

We  have  noticed  in  an  earlier  section  how  close  is  the 
affinity  between  Paul's  position  and  that  of  Jesus  in  His 
classical  exposition  of  Sonship,  the  Parable  of  the  Lost  Son. 
The  profound  utterance  of  the  father  may  be  recalled  : 
'  Child,  thou  art  always  with  me,  and  all  that  I  have  is 
thine.'  1  It  might  almost  be  felt  that  Paul's  mind  had  been 
dwelling  on  these  words,  when  he  exclaims  :  '  All  things 
are  yours.'  2  Here  is  revealed  an  element  which  brings  a 
sense  of  exultation  to  the  spirit  of  the  apostle,  what  he 
elsewhere  calls  '  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of  God.' 
This  was  the  direct  antithesis  of  his  former  religious  con- 
dition. For  that  he  could  find  no  name  but  '  slavery.' 
Tt  was  all  compact  of  fear  and  uncertainty  and  distrust 
and  foreboding.  In  Christ  he  is  master  of  circumstances — 
the  world,  life,  death,  things  present  and  things  to  come. 
For  now  he  is  an  heir  of  God.3  This  victorious  condition 
Paul  always  associates  with  the  gift  of  the  Spirit.  It  gives 
their  content  to  the  prayers  of  the  Christian.  Sonship 
and  freedom  constitute  the  atmosphere  which  the  Spirit 
creates.  '  The  sons  of  God  are  those  who  are  guided  by  the 
Spirit  of  God.  You  have  received  no  slavish  spirit  that 
would  make  you  relapse  into  fear  :  you  have  received  the 
spirit  of  sonship.  And  when  we  cry,  Abba,  Father,  it  is 
this  Spirit  testifying  along  with  our  own  spirit  that  we  are 
children  of  God.'  4 

The  keynote  of  this  life  of  sonship  is  heard  in  the  term 
1  glorying  '  which  Paul  delights  to  use.5  Its  occurrence  in 
Rom.  ii.  17,  23  suggests  that  in  the  vocabulary  of  Judaism 
it  expressed  the  satisfaction  of  the  man  who  had  made  good 
his  claim  upon  God  by  fulfilling  his  legal  obligations.6 
If  that  be  so,  its  significance  is  all  the  richer  in  its  new 
application.     For  Paul  it  has  been  stripped  of  every  hint 

1  Luke  xv.  31.  2    1  Cor.  iii.  22. 

s  Rom.  viii.  17. 

*  Rom.  viii.   14-16  (M.);    cf.  (Jal.  iv.  6. 

*  KavxaaOai :   e.g.  Rom.  v.  2,  :5.   11  :    Phil.  iii.  3. 

*  See  J.   WefaM  on    1  Cor.  i.  29. 


ch.  vi.]    FUNDAMENTAL  POSITIONS  OF  PAULINISM      139 

of  self-confidence.  Rather  does  it  now  connote  the  most 
complete  self-abnegation  :  '  God  forbid  that  I  should  glory 
except  in  the  cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by  which  the 
world  has  been  crucified  to  me  and  I  to  the  world.'  x 
Everything  that  counts,  everything  that  has  enduring 
worth,  is  bound  "up  with  Christ.  He  is  the  sole  standard 
of  values.  He  kindles  the  heart  with  an  exultation  which 
the  sharpest  tribulations  are  powerless  to  quench.2 

Now  this  exultant  mood  of  Paul's  is  constantly  related 
to  the  future.  Typical  of  his  attitude  is  Rom.  v.  2  : 
1  We  exult  in  hope  of  the  glory  of  God.'  And  so  we  are 
reminded  that  for  him  both  Justification  and  Adoption 
are  in  a  very  real  sense  daring  anticipations  of  God's  final 
purpose.  An  illustration  of  his  complete  view  of  Justifica- 
tion is  to  be  found  in  Gal.  v.  5  :  '  We  by  the  Spirit,  as  the 
result  of  faith,  eagerly  expect  the  righteousness  we  hope 
for.'  The  statement  is  extraordinarily  comprehensive. 
Christians  possess  the  gift  of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  Divine 
response  to  faith.  But  this  possession  is  not  an  end  in 
itself.  It  is  the  basis  of  a  splendid  hope,  that  hope  whose 
content  is  righteousness.  And  righteousness  here  means 
the  perfected  relationship  to  God  which  can  never  be 
annulled.  That  relationship  is  made  final  at  the  con- 
summation of  the  Kingdom  when  Christ  shall  appear. 
Adoption  is  viewed  by  Paul  in  the  same  perspective.  It 
is  of  course  a  reality  here  and  now.  But  it  has  by  no 
means  reached  its  final  stage.  This  comes  out  clearly 
in  Rom.  viii.  23  :  '  Even  we  ourselves  who  have  the  Spirit 
as  a  foretaste  of  the  future,  even  we  sigh  to  ourselves  as  we 
wait  for  the  redemption  of  the  body  that  means  our 
full  sonship.'  3 

Paul  seldom  refers  to  the  stages  by  which  believers  are 
prepared  for  the  consummation.  Occasionally  he  reveals 
a  sense  of  incompleteness  which  spurs  him  on  to  higher 
endeavour  :  *  Not  that  I  have  already  attained  this  or  am 
already  perfect  .  .  .  my  one  thought  is  ...  to  press 
on  to  the  goal  for  the  prize  of  God's  high  call  in  Christ 

1  Gal.  vi.  U.  «  Rom.  v.  3.  *  M. 


140  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  L 

Jesus.'  1  Once  or  twice  he  speaks  of  the  actual  process  : 
'  Though  my  outward  man  decay,  my  inner  man  is  renewed 
day  by  day  '  ;  2  and  more  concretely  :  '  We  all  with  un- 
veiled face  (as  contrasted  with  the  veiled  face  of  Moses 
in  Old  Testament  story),  reflecting  the  glory  of  the  Lord, 
are  being  transformed  into  the  same  likeness  from  one 
glory  to  another — for  this  comes  of  the  Lord  the  Spirit.'  3 
When  it  is  remembered  that  glory  in  Paul's  usage  means 
the  revealed  nature  of  God,  the  Divine  life  as  manifested, 
we  can  realise  the  grandeur  of  his  conception  of  the 
existence  which  awaits  the  redeemed  soul. 

We  have  seen  how  inevitable  it  was  that  Paul,  steeped 
as  he  must  have  been  in  the  eschatological  tradition  of 
Judaism,  and  participating  in  those  ardent  expectations*^ 
the  coming  aeon  which  the  early  Church  associated  with 
the  teaching  of  Jesus,  should  keep  his  gaze  fixed  on  the 
Parousia  of  Christ  which  is  to  usher  in  the  final  Messianic 
salvation.  In  his  earliest  letter,  'ie  describes  the  Christian 
life  of  his  converts  at  Thessalomca  as  '  serving  a  living  and 
true  God  and  waiting  for  the  coming  of  his  Son  from 
heaven.'  4  In  one  written  nearer  the  middle  of  his  career 
he  speaks  of  '  these  days  of  waiting  till  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  is  revealed.'  5  And  in  that  which  marks  the  close 
of  his  activity  he  characterises  his  readers  and  himself 
as  those  who  '  eagerly  wait  for  the  Saviour  from  heaven, 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  will  transform  the  body  of  our 
humiliation  {i.e.  the  earthly  life)  into  the  likeness  of  the 
body  of  his  glory.'  6  It  is,  however,  scarcely  possible  to 
trace  in  his  writings  any  consistent  scheme  of  eschatology. 
Thus,  for  example,  he  never  discusses  such  questions  as 
the  fate  of  those  who  reject  the  Gospel  of  Christ,7  or  a 
possible  intermediate  state.  And  although  the  idea  of 
the  final  Judgment  appears  frequently,  it  is  difficult  to 
determine  his  view  of  its  precise  relation  to  the  other  events 
of  the  End.     Besides  the  Parousia,  to  which  reference  has 

■   Phil.  ni.  12-14  (MA  »  2  Cor.  iv.  16. 

3  2  Cor.  in.  is  (partly  M.).  «  I  Them.  1.  10. 

•   1  Cor.  i.  7  (M.).  •  Phil.  i.i.  20. 

'  Th<   •   ki<  '  the  perishing  *  i   <•../.  2  Cor.  iv.  8  j    1  Cor.  1.  18. 


ch.  vi.]    FUNDAMENTAL  POSITIONS  OF  PAULINISM      141 

been  made,  Paul  lays  special  emphasis  on  the  resurrection, 
and  this  becomes  more  prominent  as  his  expectation  of 
surviving  until  the  Parousia  grows  more  uncertain. 
Naturally  the  picture  which  he  has  formed  owes  much  to 
his  conception  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ.  It  will  mean 
a  transformation  of  being  with  a  view  to  entrance  into  a 
new  order,  as  it  meant  for  Christ.1  Such  a  transformation 
he  also  anticipates  for  those  who  are  still  alive  when 
Christ  returns.2  He  gives  various  hints  of  the  process  for 
which  he  so  eagerly  longs.  It  is  an  exchanging  of  that 
earthly  body  of  flesh  which  he  feels  so  burdensome  and 
which  '  cannot  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God,'  3  for  a  spiritual 
'  organism,'  prepared  by  the  Divine  power,  and  destined  to 
be  a  fit  instrument  for  the  perfected  spirit.4  He  can 
describe  it  as  '  the  image  of  the  heavenly,'  which  is 
equivalent  to  the  likeness  of  the  exalted  Christ.  This  he 
names  in  the  passage  already  quoted  from  Philippians, 
'  the  body  (or  organism)  of  his  glory.'  That  is  to  say,  be- 
lievers are  to  share  in  the  exalted  life  of  the  Lord  Himself. 
Thus  we  are  brought  back  to  the  significance  for  Paul 
of  the  Parousia.  Now  in  so  far  as  he  is  true  to  the  escha- 
tological  tradition  of  Judaism,  this  represents  to  him  the 
complete  triumph  of  God,  the  consummation  of  the  Divine 
kingdom.  And  occasionally  that  aspect  is  placed  in  the 
forefront.5  But  in  contrast  with  the  usual  tendency  of 
Jewish  apocalyptic  he  is  as  a  rule  far  more  concerned 
with  the  destiny  of  individual  believers  than  with  the 
realised  victory  of  God  as  such.  In  the  great  epoch  of 
Christ's  appearing,  death  is  to  be  swallowed  up  by  life,6 
and  this  will  be  the  victory  of  those  who  are  united  to  him. 
Hence  the  condition  of  blessedness  which  the  Parousia 
inaugurates  is  specially  designated  '  life  '  or  '  eternal  fife.'  7 
It  is  the  disclosure  of  a  high  potentiality  already  present. 
'  You  died,'  he  says,  '  and  your  fife  has  been  hid  with 

1  Phil.  iii.  20.  2  1  Cor.  xv.  51-63. 

3  2  Cor.  v.  1,  2,  4  ;    1  Cor.  xv.  50. 

«  2  Cor.  v.  1  ;    1  Cor.  xv.  44-46. 

5  See  especially  1  Cor.  xv.  24-28. 

•  1  Cor.  xv.  54,  55.  '  Occasionally  '  salvation.' 


142  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft.  i. 

Christ  in  God.  When  Christ  shall  be  manifested,  who  is 
our  life,  then  you  also  will  be  manifested  with  him  in 
glory.'  '  '  Glory  '  constitutes  the  loftiest  description  of 
the  perfected  existence,  the  final  issue  of  the  new  attitude 
to  God. 


(d)  The  Activities  of  the  Christian 

There  could  scarcely  be  a  greater  misconception  than 
to  suppose  that  Paul's  mind  was  so  completely  engrossed 
in  contemplating  and  interpreting  the  mysteries  of  the 
faith  as  to  ignore  the  practical  sphere  of  ethical  obligation. 
The  sequence  of  Rom.  vi.  on  Rom.  v.  is  true  to  his  essential 
standpoint.  If  God's  gracious  response  to  men's  faith  is 
the  establishing  of  a  new  relationship  of  love  and  freedom, 
that  relationship  must  express  itself  in  an  obedience  to  Him 
which  is  moral.  Such  utterances  as  Rom.  xii.  1  show 
clearly  his  general  position  :  '  I  beseech  you  therefore, 
brethren,  by  the  mercies  of  God  to  present  your  bodies  as 
a  living  sacrifice,  consecrated  and  well  pleasing  to  God.' 
This  use  of  all  one's  powers  in  the  Divine  service  is  the 
highest  privilege  of  the  new  life.  Those  who  are  sons  of 
God  are  no  longer  at  the  mercy  of  the  '  flesh,'  i.e.  the  lawless 
desires  and  self-will  which  characterise  human  nature  apart 
from  the  Divine  influence.  They  are  led  by  the  Spirit- 
But  the  Spirit  is  not  now  regarded  merely  as  the  source  of 
abnormal  manifestations,  as  in  the  earliest  days  of  the 
Christian  community.  We  have  seen  in  a  former  section 
how  Paul  corrected  that  prevalent  view,  restraining  the 
spiritual  energy  which  found  its  chief  outlet  in  such 
phenomena  as  '  speaking  with  tongues,'  and  urging  upon 
his  converts  that  real  spiritual  power  should  take  effect  in 
ethical  activity.  '  The  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  love,  joy,  peace, 
long-suffering,  kindness,  goodness  of  heart,  faithfulness, 
meekness,  self-control.'2  An  atmosphere  of  inward  har- 
mony is  established  which  prompts  to  generous  service. 
It  is  noteworthy  that  love  stands  first  in  the  series  of 
1  Col.  iii.  3,  4.  '  Gal.  v.  22. 


ch.  vi.]    FUNDAMENTAL  POSITIONS  OF  PAULINISM      143 

spiritual  qualities  enumerated  by  Paul  in  Galatians.  That 
this  is  no  accident  may  be  inferred  from  various  impor- 
tant passages,  of  which  the  most  remarkable  is  1  Cor.  xiii. 
There,  after  a  delicate  and  penetrating  analysis  of  love,  he 
sums  up  in  the  famous  words  :  '  As  it  is,  there  abide  faith, 
hope,  love,  these  three  :  but  the  greatest  of  these  is  love.' 
When  we  remember  that  for  Paul  faith  is  the  foundation  of 
his  fellowship  with  Christ,  and  that  the  hope  of  final  redemp- 
tion at  the  Parousia  is  to  him  the  very  breath  of  life,  we 
can  scarcely  over-estimate  the  significance  of  the  primacy 
which  he  assigns  to  love.  The  cardinal  importance  of 
love  arises  for  him  out  of  the  depths  of  his  religious  experi- 
ence. It  has  already  been  pointed  out  that  Paul's  con- 
version-crisis meant  the  discovery  of  a  love  at  the  heart  of 
things  which  almost  exceeded  comprehension.  He  calls 
it  *  the  love  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord.'  And  his 
immediate  answer  to  it  was  a  whole-hearted  loyalty  and 
devotion.  But  he  realised  at  once  that  this  affection  could 
be  no  mere  inward  rapture.  It  must  go  out  to  others  as 
the  love  of  Christ  had  gone  out  to  him.  And  the  more 
closely  he  became  acquainted  with  the  tradition  of  the  life 
and  teaching  of  Jesus,  the  more  clearly  did  he  discover  that 
boundless  love  had  been  the  keynote  of  all  His  earthly 
activities.  In  this,  pre-eminently,  those  who  had  seen 
Him  had  seen  the  Father.  Accordingly  we  recognise  that 
for  Paul,  as  for  his  Master,  there  is  no  severance  between 
religious  and  moral  values.  The  activity  of  love,  like  all 
the  ethical  activities,  is  the  index  of  a  definite  relation  to 
God.  The  great  statement  of  1  John  iv.  19  is  strictly  true 
to  Paul's  conviction  :  '  We  love  because  he  first  loved  us.' 
Here  is  a  new  and  enduring  basis  of  moral  action.  As 
Weinel  has  aptly  described  the  situation,  '  "  Thou  shalt  " 
no  longer  rules  the  individual,  but  "  I  will."  '  1  The 
quality  of  conduct  is  fundamentally  altered.  From  the 
purified  motive  in  which  selfish  ends  are  forgotten  springs 
a  spontaneity  of  action  which  enhances  and  ennobles  life. 
It  need  scarcely  be  observed  that  this  is  the  direct  converse 

1  Paulua,  p.  105. 


144  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft.  r. 

of  legalism.  No  one  had  been  better  acquainted  than 
Paul  with  the  tormenting  challenge  of  innumerable 
ordinances.  His  pre-Christian  view  of  obligation  had  never 
got  beyond  these.  But  now,  in  Christ,  all  separate  maxims 
— and  the  apostle  has  still  to  urge  these  on  his  converts — 
are  absorbed  in  the  high  ideal  which  Jesus  has  promulgated. 
The  new  spirit  is  the  decisive  factor.  That  spirit  is  to 
determine  the  kind  of  activity  for  which  every  separate 
situation  calls.  The  more  completely  the  Christian 
suffers  the  Divine  power  to  possess  him,  the  more  certainly 
will  he  be  delivered  from  morbid  scruples  regarding  each 
separate  moral  decision  he  has  to  make.  His  enlightened 
judgment  will  enable  him  to  strike  the  balance  between 
freedom  and  self -limitation.  Paul's  discussion  of  this  pro- 
cess in  Rom.  xiv.1  is  a  classical  example  of  spiritual  and 
ethical  tact.  And  no  better  instance  of  his  normative 
position  could  be  found  than  Gal.  v.  14  :  '  The  whole  law 
is  fulfilled  in  one  sentence,  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour 
as  thyself.'  It  is  surely  not  a  mere  coincidence  that  this  was 
the  obligation  which  Jesus  placed  next  to  that  of  complete 
devotion  to  God. 

This  recognition  of  Paul's  supreme  motive  at  once 
suggests  that,  like  all  healthy  moral  energy,  his  ethic  will 
be  largely  social.  And  the  range  of  the  term  '  social ' 
will  be  regulated  by  his  circumstances  and  environment. 
Not  that  this  latter  influence  must  be  exaggerated.  For 
when  Paul  urges  the  members  of  the  Christian  community 
at  Rome,  '  Bless  those  that  persecute  you,  bless  and  do  not 
curse  them,'  2  it  is  plain  that  he  looks  far  beyond  the  circle 
of  his  brethren  in  Christ.  And  when  he  follows  up  such 
injunctions  by  bidding  them  to  '  be  in  debt  to  no  man 
except  to  love  one  another,'  3  we  cannot  doubt  that  his 
conception  of  '  neighbourship  '  was  derived  from  that  of  his 
Master  and  equally  wide  in  its  scope.4  But  due  importance 
ought  to  be  assigned  to  the  situation  in  which  he  found 
himself.     As  an  ardent  missionary,  he  was  absorbed  in  the 

1   Cf.    I  ''or.  viii.  unci  ix.  *   Rom.  xii.    14. 

s  Hum.  -xiii.  8.  ■  Luke  x.  30-37. 


ch.  vi.J    FUNDAMENTAL  POSITIONS  OF  PAULINISM      145 

work  of  spreading  the  Gospel  over  the  Grseco -Roman 
world.  No  part  of  his  labour  was  more  pressing  than  that 
of  guiding  his  converts  into  a  life  worthy  of  the  name  they 
bore.  Hence  there  is  nothing  abstract  or  theoretical  in  his 
moral  teaching.  It  reaches  down  to  the  most  elementary 
duties,  the  avoidance  of  theft,  drunkenness,  lying  :  and 
it  ascends  to  the  moral  heights  from  which  Jesus  had 
beckoned,  self-denial,  love  of  enemies,  forgiveness.  Above 
all,  the  Christian  community  affords  the  best  training  in 
ethical  discipline.  Plainly  the  types  of  moral  action 
with  which  Paul  deals  will  depend  upon  the  actual  pro- 
blems that  confront  the  immature  Christian  communi- 
ties. A  primary  question  will  be  that  of  their  relation  to 
their  pagan  environment.  Paul  handles  it  with  masterly 
sagacity.  It  came  before  him  definitely  in  a  request  for 
advice  from  Corinth  regarding  sacrificial  meat.  Some 
members  of  the  Church,  taking  full  advantage  of  the 
Christian  position  that  an  idol  is  ' '  nothing,'  x  are  able  to 
treat  the  situation  with  indifference.  It  matters  nothing 
to  them  that  the  meat  they  eat  has  been  consecrated  in  a 
temple.  '  The  earth  is  the  Lord's,  and  the  fulness  thereof.5 
For  others  the  old  associations  are  decisive.  It  is  a 
violation  of  conscience  to  partake  of  such  food.2  Which 
attitude  is  to  be  regulative  ?  '  All  things  are  allowed,' 
says  the  apostle,  '  but  not  all  things  are  expedient.  All 
things  are  allowed,  but  not  all  things  edify.'  3  Hence. 
'  it  is  a  good  thing  neither  to  eat  flesh  nor  to  drink  wine, 
nor  anything,  that  your  brother  feels  to  be  a  stumbling- 
block.'  For  Paul  the  criterion  of  love  among  the  brethren 
is  normative.4 

A  further  point  of  discussion  was  the  relation  of  the 
sexes.  Naturally  Paul  used  no  uncertain  language  re- 
garding all  breaches  of  personal  purity,  a  subject  on  which 
gross  laxness  prevailed  in  heathen  society.  Nor  does  he 
shrink  from  taking  the  highest  ground  :  '  Do  you  not  know 
that  your  bodies  are  members  (literally,  limbs)  of  Christ  ? 

1  1  Cor.  viii.  4.  2  1  Cor.  viii.  7. 

3  1  Cor.  x.  23.  «  Rom.  xiv.  21. 


146  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft.  L 

Shall  I  then  take  the  members  of  Christ  and  make  them  the 
members  of  a  harlot  ?  God  forbid .'  1  It  is  from  the  same 
lofty  platform  that  he  estimates  the  position  of  woman. 
In  this  matter  he  has  been  seriously  misunderstood.  His 
injunction  that  women  should  keep  silence  in  the  public 
services  of  the  Church  2  has  been  seized  upon  as  an  indica- 
tion of  his  contempt  for  the  sex.  In  reality  the  advice  is 
given  lest  Christian  women  should  incur  the  suspicion  of 
a  forwardness  which  offended  the  sensibility  of  the  ancient 
world.3  Paul's  position  is  clearly  discernible  in  Gal. 
iii.  28  :  '  There  is  no  longer  Jew  or  Greek,  there  is  no 
longer  slave  or  freeman,  there  is  no  longer  male  or  female  : 
you  are  all  one  in  Christ  Jesus.'  This  passage  also  goes  to 
the  root  of  the  apostle's  attitude  towards  slavery.  But 
there  happens  to  be  extant  an  application  to  a  particular 
case  of  the  principle  here  laid  down.  Onesimus,  the  slave 
of  Philemon,  a  Christian  belonging  to  the  community  at 
Colossae,  had  run  away  from  his  master.  He  drifted  to 
Rome,  and  there  under  Paufs  influence  became  a  convert 
to  Christianity.4  The  apostle  had  the  delicate  duty  of 
sending  him  back  to  his  master  :  and  in  the  singularly 
beautiful  note  which  he  gives  him  to  hand  to  Philemon 
he  reveals  his  own  standpoint.  'Perhaps  this  was  why 
you  and  he  were  parted  for  a  while,  that  you  might  get 
him  back  for  good,  no  longer  a  mere  slave,  but  something 
more  than  a  slave,  a  beloved  brother  :  especially  dear  to 
me,  but  how  much  more  to  you  as  a  man  and  as  a  Christian.'5 
If  a  slave  can  be  treated  as  '  a  beloved  brother,'  his  social 
position  has  lost  its  bitterness.  If  Paul's  principle  of  the 
oneness  of  Christians  in  Christ  be  adopted,  slavery  as  an 
institution  is  doomed.  He  made,  indeed,  no  attempt  to 
interfere  in  any  formal  way  with  the  existing  social  order. 
He  goes  so  far  as  to  advise  slaves  not  to  be  troubled  by  their 
condition.     '  Of  course,  if  you  do  find  it  possible  to  get 

1   1  Cor.  vi.  15.  *  1  Cor.  xiv.  34. 

*  Some  Hcholars  regard  verses  336-35  as  a  later  interpolation.  Verses 
34-35  are  placed  by  most  Western  authorities  after  verse  40.  Certainly 
the  words  seem  to  contradict  1  Cor.  xi.  5.     See  J.  Weiss  ad.  lor.. 

•  Philem.  10.  *  Philem.  15,  16  (M.). 


en.  vi.]    FUNDAMENTAL  POSITIONS  OF  PAULINISM      147 

free,  you  had  better  avail  yourself  of  the  opportunity. 
But  a  slave  who  is  called  to  be  in  the  Lord  is  a  freedman 
of  the  Lord.'  1  As  the  context  of  this  passage  shows,  the 
consideration  which  weighs  with  him  is  the  imminence  of 
the  Parousia.2 

When  Paul  deals  with  the  relation  of  the  Christian  to 
the  State,  it  is  from  the  standpoint  of  the  practical 
missionary.  He  lived  in  the  epoch  of  the  Pax  Romana. 
Nowhere  was  the  boon  of  a  carefully  organised  yet  non- 
despotic  government  more  highly  prized  than  in  the 
Provinces  which  were  the  scene  of  Paul's  evangelistic 
work.  It  is  not,  therefore,  surprising  that  he  preserves 
an  attitude  of  respect  towards  the  Imperial  rule.  Here, 
as  in  his  whole  estimate  of  society,  he  is  guided  by  the 
principle  which  he  lays  down  in  Rom.  xii.  18  :  '  If  it  be 
possible,  so  far  as  that  rests  with  you,  live  peaceably  with 
all  men.'  But  he  directly  enjoins  submission  to  the  State, 
on  the  ground  that  it  has  been  divinely  ordained  to  rule 
righteously  and  put  down  evil.3  Christians  are  to  dis- 
charge their  duties  to  the  State  as  genuinely  moral 
obligations. 

It  has  often  been  observed  that  at  various  points  of  his 
ethical  outlook  Paul  reveals  affinities  with  the  popularised 
philosophy  of  his  time.  But  from  beginning  to  end  it  is 
plain  how  that  outlook  was  determined  by  religious 
motives. 


(e)  The  Body  and  the  Members  of  Christ 

We  have  found  that  Paul's  ethical  teaching  is  pre- 
dominantly social.  From  the  nature  of  the  case  the 
society  which  chiefly  absorbs  his  attention  is  the  Church, 
the  community  of  Christians.  His  conception  of  the 
Church  is  most  clearly  realised  by  means  of  his  favourite 
metaphor,  the  Body  of  Christ.4  The  previous  course  of 
discussion  has  shown  that  for  Paul  the  fundamental  aspect 

1   1  Cor.  vii.  21,  22  (M.).  *  Ibid.,  veraes  26,  29,  31. 

3  Rom.  xiii.  1-7.  4  See  especially  1  Cor.  xii.  ;   Eph.  iv.  1-16. 


148  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft.  i. 

of  Christianity  is  the  union  of  the  believer  to  Christ.  That 
union  is  constituted  by  the  Spirit,  who  mediates  the  life 
of  Christ  in  response  to  the  faith  of  the  individual.  An 
obvious  inference  from  this  process  is  the  communion  of 
Christians  in  Christ  through  the  same  Spirit.  The  one 
Spirit,  as  the  real  life-principle  of  the  society,  suggests  the 
correlative  idea  of  the  one  Body,  the  living  organism  which 
gives  expression  to  the  life  of  the  Spirit.  This  is  ideally 
the  embodiment  of  the  mind  and  will  of  Christ.  Hence 
the  Christian  community  is  designated  by  Paul  the  Body 
of  Christ,  and  those  who  belong  to  it  His  members.  A 
typical  expression  of  his  view  is  found  in  Rom.  xii.  4,  5 : 
1  As  we  have  many  members  in  one  body,  and  all  the 
members  have  not  the  same  function,  so  we,  though  many, 
are  one  body  in  Christ,  and  severally  members  one  of 
another.'  * 

Let  us  examine  the  essential  features  of  Paul's  idea  of 
the  Church,  as  set  forth  in  this  most  suggestive  figure. 

(1)  There  is  a  singular  lack  of  reference  in  the  Epistles 
to  external  wganisation.  This  certainly  does  not  mean 
that  Paul  was  negligent  of  order  in  the  life  of  the  Christian 
society.  We  have  direct  evidence  of  the  emphasis  which 
he  laid  upon  it.2  But  his  was  the  period  of  charismatic 
functions  in  the  Church.3  It  is  highly  significant  that 
when  he  ranks  the  offices  in  the  Church,  he  places  first 
apostles,  secondly  prophets,  thirdly  teachers.4  Probably 
none  of  these  represent  permanent  officials.  They  are  all 
persons  endowed  with  a  special  '  gift '  (xapurpa),  which 
they  readily  place  at  the  service  of  the  Christian  society. 
They  are  to  be  found  where  their  work  is  most  required. 
It  may  be  that  the  terms  '  helps  '  and  '  administrations,' 
which  occur  later  in  the  same  context,  stand  for  the  more 
concrete  l  deacons  '  (literally,  '  servants  ' :  cf .  Mark  x.  45, 
which  perhaps  helped  to  establish  the  usage)  and  '  over- 
seers '  («7rujK07roi),  titles  only  found  in  Philippians,5 
which    is   probably    the   latest   of   Paul's    Epistles.     The 

1  Cf.  1  Cor.  xii.  12.  ■   i:.tj.   1  Cor.  xiv.  40. 

4  K.y.    1  Cor.  xii.  411.  «  1  Cot.  xii.  28.  ■  Phi),  i.   1. 


ch.  vi.]    FUNDAMENTAL  POSITIONS  OF  PAULIXISM      149 

existing  data  suggest  that  during  the  period  of  Paul's 
activity  the  organisation  of  the  Church  was  in  a  flexible 
condition.  What  primarily  concerns  the  apostle  is  the 
spiritual  vigour  of  the  Body. 

(2)  The  health  of  the  Body  depends  on  the  unity  of  the 
Spirit  which  pervades  it.  Paul  constantly  dwells  on  this 
idea  ;  e.g.  Eph.  iv.  3-6  :  '  Endeavouring  to  keep  the  unity 
of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace.  There  is  one  body,  and 
one  spirit,  as  you  were  called  in  one  hope  of  your  calling ; 
one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism,  one  God  and  Father  of 
all,  who  is  above  all,  and  through  all,  and  in  all.'  The 
important  point  to  be  noted  in  all  his  utterances  on  this 
theme  is  the  inwardness  of  the  conception.  It  seems 
highly  probable,  as  has  been  hinted,  that  there  was  as  yet 
no  such  thing  as  uniformity  of  organisation.  Paul's  general 
view  of  the  situation,  in  so  far  as  it  can  be  reconstructed 
from  the  available  evidence,  would  lead  us  to  suppose 
that  he  was  prepared  for  large  divergence  in  the  methods 
of  Christian  service.  For  he  delights  to  dwell  on  the  mani- 
foldness  of  the  gifts  bestowed  by  the  Spirit  for  the  up- 
building of  the  Christian  society.  But  he  constantly  keeps 
in  the  forefront  the  obligation  to  unity  of  mind  and  heart 
in  the  separate  Christian  communities.  '  I  beseech  you, 
brethren,'  he  writes  to  the  Corinthians,1 '  by  the  name  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  that  you  all  speak  the  same  thing,  and 
that  there  be  no  divisions  among  you  ;  but  that  you  be 
perfectly  knit  together  in  the  same  mind  and  the  same 
judgment.'  This  is  simply  the  application  to  a  particular 
case  of  his  great  general  principle  :  '  God  has  tempered  the 
body  together,  with  a  special  dignity  for  the  inferior  parts, 
so  that  there  may  be  no  disunion  in  the  body,  but  that 
the  various  members  should  have  a  common  concern  for 
one  another.'  2  That  is  to  say,  the  supreme  object  of 
membership  in  the  Body  of  Christ  is  mutual  service  and 
helpfulness. 

(3)  But  Paul's  conception  of  the  Body  of  Christ  implies 
that  the  Church  is  the  special  representative  of  her  living 

1  1  Cor.  i.  10.  •  1  Cor.  arii.  24,  25  (M.j. 


150  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pp.  i. 

Lord  upon  earth.  Christ  is  frequently  described  as  the 
'  Head  '  of  the  Body,1  and  of  course  that  is  always  pre- 
supposed. The  head  requires  the  body.  The  brain 
controls  the  limbs.  The  will  demands  an  instrument  to 
carry  out  its  purposes.  Here  is  outlined  the  daring  idea 
that  the  Church  is  the  direct  manifestation  of  the  life  of 
Christ  to  humanity,  the  supreme  witness  to  the  Divine 
intention  for  the  universe.  On  the  other  hand,  contact 
with  the  Head  ensures  that  the  Body  shall  attain  its  full 
development,  growing  up  completely  into  Him.2 

A  special  aspect  of  the  Divine  purpose  for  mankind, 
which  lies  close  to  the  apostle's  heart,  is  that  on  which 
he  may  be  said  to  have  staked  all  his  activity — the  fellow- 
ship of  Gentiles  with  Jews  in  the  common  salvation  of 
Jesus  Christ.  The  proclamation  of  this  great  discovery 
he  regards  as  his  peculiar  function  :  '  The  Divine  secret  was 
disclosed  to  me  by  a  revelation  .  .  .  namely,  that  in  Christ 
Jesus  the  Gentiles  are  co-heirs,  companions,  and  co- 
partners in  the  promise.'  3  In  this  union  of  those  who  had 
been  aliens  with  the  members  of  the  historic  community 
of  Israel  '  in  one  body  through  the  cross,'  Paul  recognises 
the  disclosure  of  '  the  full  sweep  of  the  Divine  wisdom.'  4 

The  unity  of  the  members  of  the  Body  of  Christ  in  Him 
their  Head  receives  solemn  expression  in  the  sacraments  of 
Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper.  It  is  absurd  to  say  that 
'  Paul  created  the  sacramental  conception.'  5  He  found 
these  rites  in  the  Christian  community  when  he  entered  it. 
And  there  is  no  evidence  to  show  that  he  enhanced  their 
importance.  It  is  significant  that  in  so  careful  and  syste- 
matic a  delineation  of  his  religious  beliefs  as  the  Epistle 
to  the  Romans  there  is  no  reference  to  the  Lord's  Supper.6 

1  E.g.   Col.  i.  18,  ii.  19  ;   Eph.  i.  22. 

•  Col.  ii.  19;    Eph.  iv.  12-16. 

»  Eph.  iii.  3,  6  (M.) ;   similarly  Col.  i.  25-27. 
«  Eph.  iii.  10  (M.). 

•  Bo  Wernle,  Anjiinge,  p.  166. 

•  Tin  re  ia  no  force  in  the  position  taken  by  Professor  Lake  in  his  Earlier 
KpUfle*  oj  St.  Paul,  p.  384,  and  elsewhere,  that  Paul  did  not  need  to  refer 
to  beliefs  which  were  '  common  ground  to  him  and  all  other  Christians.' 
As  a  matter  of  fact  he  does  invariably  recur  to  euch  beliefs,  as,  e.g.,  that 
in  the  Hol\   Spirit. 


ch.  vi.]    FUNDAMENTAL  POSITIONS  OF  PAULINISM      151 

And  in  1  Cor.  i.  17  he  distinctly  subordinates  Baptism  to 
the  preaching  of  the  Gospel.  Still,  like  his  fellow-Christians 
throughout  the  Church,  he  regarded  these  rites  as  of  real 
value  for  the  quickening  of  faith.  No  statement  in  the 
Epistles  suggests  that  he  looked  on  Baptism  as  the  originat- 
ing cause  of  faith.  Indeed  the  baptismal  formula,  '  into 
the  name  of  Christ,'  takes  for  granted  that  the  candidate 
had  come  already  into  a  definite  relation  with  Christ — 
that  he  had  formed  a  definite  estimate  of  the  '  name '  by 
which  he  was  called.1  Even  the  utterance  of  Gal.  iii.  27  : 
'  All  of  you  who  had  yourselves  baptized  into  Christ  have 
put  on  Christ,'  in  no  way  conflicts  with  the  clear  teaching 
of  the  entire  Epistle  that  faith  is  primary.  For  the  whole 
context  shows  that  in  this  passage  faith  is  the  presupposition 
of  Baptism.2  Baptism  marks  the  definite  entrance  of  the 
convert  into  the  Christian  community.  As  such  it  was 
an  event  of  epoch-making  importance  in  his  history.  It 
was  of  course  a  symbol,  and  as  such  Paul  uses  it  to  sex, 
forth  his  profound  conception  of  dying  and  being  buried 
with  Christ  in  relation  to  the  old  sinful  life,  and  rising  with 
him  to  the  new  life  of  righteousness.3  But  Baptism  is  more 
than  a  symbol.  As  in  this  impressive  rite  the  convert 
takes  the  decisive  step  of  turning  his  back  on  his  old 
spiritual  environment,  and  making  himself  over  to  the 
lordship  and  obedience  of  Christ,  his  faith  is  powerfully 
intensified  :  he  receives  a  fresh  inspiration  :  the  solemn 
ritual  becomes  to  him  a  real  pledge  of  the  unfailing  grace  of 
God. 

It  is  not  otherwise  with  the  Lord's  Supper.  Paul  nowhere 
implies  that  fellowship  with  Christ  is  inaugurated  by  the 
Eucharist.  He  deliberately  states  his  view  of  its  signific- 
ance in  1  Cor.  xi.  26  :  'As  often  as  you  eat  this  bread  and 
drink  this  cup,  you  represent  (KarayyekXtTt)  the  Lord's 
death  till  he  come.'     To  quote  a  statement  which  the 

1  See  Sokolowski,  Oeist  u.  Leben  bet  Patdus,  p.  270. 

*  See  verses  23,  24,  25,  26  ;   so  also  in  Col.  i*.  12. 

•  Rom.  vi.  3,  4.  It  is  worth  noting  that  in  tne  most  remarkable  descrip- 
tion  of  this  experience  (Gal.  ii.  19,  20)  there  is  no  mention  of  Baptism. 
It  is,  therefore,  quite  irrelevant  to  say  that  for  Paul  the  experience  ia 
conditioned  by  Baptism. 


152  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft.  i. 

present  writer  has  made  elsewhere,1  'the  bread  and  wine 
represent  not  the  flesh  and  blood  of  Christ  as  such,  but 
His  human  person  as  slain  on  the  cross.  Therefore  com- 
munion with  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  means  com- 
munion with  the  Lord  as  crucified,  and  all  that  this 
involves.  Hence  we  never  find  the  apostle  speaking  of 
"  eating  the  flesh  "  or  "  drinking  the  blood  "  of  Christ.  He 
is  careful  to  associate  the  solemn  actions  only  with  the 
bread  and  the  cup.  It  is  thus  apparent  that  the  Lord's 
Supper  sets  forth  visibly,  for  Paul,  the  supreme  spiritual 
experience  which  he  has  described  in  Gal.  ii.  19  :  "I  have 
been  crucified  with  Christ."  And  as  the  apostle  can  never 
dissociate  the  Crucifixion  from  the  Resurrection,  the 
appropriation  of  the  benefits  of  the  death  of  Christ  which  is 
quickened  by  the  sacred  celebration  will  carry  with  it  a 
like  appropriation  of  the  resources  of  the  risen  Lord.' 
Here,  as  in  Baptism,  to  the  believing  consciousness  the 
symbol  becomes  a  sacrament,  a  convincing  pledge  of  the 
mercy  of  God  in  Christ  the  crucified.  But  Paul  does  not, 
any  more  than  in  Baptism,  ascribe  to  the  actions  a 
magical  effect.  The  spiritual  benefit  is  the  Divine  response 
which  is  never  denied  to  adoring  faith.  It  may  be  noted, 
finally,  that  the  common  meal  is  the  most  impressive 
exhibition  of  the  unity  of  the  Body  of  Christ.  Paul  is 
keenly  alive  to  this  when  he  declares  :  '  Many  as  we  are, 
we  are  one  bread,  one  body,  since  we  all  partake  of  the  one 
bread.'  2 


(/)  The  Cosmic  Relations  of  Christ 

Starting  from  his  own  experience,  Paul  was  convinced 
that  the  most  momentous  event  in  the  history  of  the  in- 
dividual was  his  redemption  from  sin  and  from  the  sway 
of  that  hierarchy  of  evil  forces  to  which  he  regarded  the 
present  world-order  as  subject.  Only  by  this  means  could 
humanity  attain  the  destiny  appointed  for  it  in  the  wisdom 
and  loving-kindness  of  God.    Now  the  sole  medium  of  the 

1  St.  Paul  awl  the  Mystery-Religion;  p.  270.  *  1  Cor.  x.  17  (M.). 


ch.  vi.]    FUNDAMENTAL  POSITIONS  OF  PAULINISM      153 

redemptive  process  is  Christ.  He  is  the  Last  Adam,  the 
Second  Man,1  who,  as  life-giving  Spirit,  counteracts  the 
principle  of  sin  and  death  which  had  attained  universal 
sway  through  the  transgression  of  the  First.2  As  such, 
He  becomes  the  Founder  of  a  new  humanity.3  Hence 
His  incarnation,  death,  and  resurrection  are  not  mere 
incidents  of  a  personal  history.  Their  bearing  is  universal. 
For  the  establishing  of  right  relations  between  the  God 
who  is  over  all  and  the  creatures  whom  He  has  made  for 
likeness  to  Himself  is  central  in  the  world  of  being,  which 
Paul  of  course  conceives  as  a  moral  and  spiritual  order. 

It  is  an  easy  and  natural  step  from  this  position  to  find 
in  Christ  the  focus  of  the  cosmic  system,  the  constitutive 
principle  of  universal  life.  Paul's  statements  are  remark- 
able. Already  in  1  Cor.  viii.  6  (M.)  he  speaks  of  '  one  God, 
the  Father,  from  whom  all  comes,  and  for  whom  we  exist, 
and  one  Lord,  Jesus  Christ,  by  whom  all  exists  and  by 
whom  we  exist.'  But  the  formulation  of  the  idea  is  most 
clearly  seen  in  the  Captivity-Epistles,  written  from  his 
Roman  prison  towards  the  close  of  his  career.  By  this 
time  his  great  controversies  with  Judaizers  on  behalf  of  the 
liberty  of  the  Gospel  have  lost  their  intensity.  Circum- 
stances have  thwarted  the  extension  of  his  own  missionary 
labours.  And  although  he  is  still  in  constant  communica- 
tion with  all  parts  of  his  mission-field,  he  has  some  leisure 
to  reflect  on  the  unfathomable  significance  of  that  Lord 
who  is  the  end  and  aim  of  his  activity,  '  in  whom  are  hid 
all  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge.'  It  is  true 
that  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians,  in  which  especially 
these  meditations  find  expression,  he  was  confronting  a 
definite  situation  in  the  Churches  of  the  Lycus-valley,  a 
challenge  by  the  adherents  of  an  obscure  theosophy  to  the 
supremacy  of  Christ.  But  the  whole  tone  of  Colossians 
and  Ephesians,  not  to  speak  of  the  unique  passage  on  the 
incarnation  in  so  thoroughly  practical  a  letter  as  Philippians, 
indicates  clearly  enough  the  regions  in  which  his  thought 
was  moving. 

1   1  Cor.  xv.  45,  47.  »  Rom.  v.  12.  »  1  Cor.  xv.  22. 


154  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  t. 

The  most  important  statement  for  our  purpose  is  Col. 
i.  15-20,  and  it  is  worth  noting  that  Paul  links  it  on  to  a 
reminder  of  the  redemption  which  his  readers  have  attained 
though  God's  '  beloved  Son,'  because  that  is  the  real  basis 
in  his  experience  of  the  cosmic  functions  of  Christ  on  which 
he  proceeds  to  enlarge.  '  He  is  the  likeness  of  the  unseen 
God,'  says  the  apostle,  '  born  first  before  all  the  creation 
— for  it  was  by  (better,  '  in  ')  him  that  all  things  were 
created  both  in  heaven  and  on  earth,  both  the  seen  and  the 
unseen,  including  thrones,  angelic  lords,  celestial  powers 
and  rulers  ;  all  things  have  been  created  by  him  and  for 
him  ;  he  is  prior  to  all,  and  all  coheres  in  him.'  Then  after 
emphasising  Christ's  headship  of  His  Body,  the  Church,  in 
virtue  of  the  pre-eminence  He  has  reached  as  '  the  first 
to  be  born  from  the  dead,'  Paul  continues  :  '  It  was  in  him 
that  the  Divine  Fulness  willed  to  settle  without  limit,  and 
by  him  it  willed  to  reconcile  in  his  own  person  all  on  earth 
and  in  heaven  alike,  in  a  peace  made  by  the  blood  of  his 
cross.'  *  Thus  the  paragraph  ends  as  it  began  in  the 
atmosphere  of  redemption. 

It  is  perhaps  true  to  say  that  the  far-reaching  inferences 
which  Paul  has  here  made  are  already  involved  in  his 
conception  of  Christ  as  the  Son  of  God.  But  even  if  this 
be  so,  it  does  not  alter  the  conclusion  at  which  we  have 
already  hinted,  that  in  Christ  crucified,  the  Redeemer  of 
men  from  an  evil  order  of  things  and  its  conqueror,2 
Paul  is  assured  that  he  has  come  into  touch  with  Ultimate 
Reality.  Hence  he  feels  justified  in  elaborating  the  im- 
plications which  such  a  Reality  involves  :  pre-existence, 
mediation  of  the  Divine  activity  in  creation,  the  sustaining 
principle  of  the  universe,  the  goal  of  all  being.  All  these 
things  are  implied  in  the  passage  quoted  above.  But  the 
fact  that,  after  using  an  aorist  tense  to  state  the  creation 
of  all  things  by  Christ,  '  he  lapses  into  perfects  and  presents, 
is  a  suggestive  hint  that  he  contemplates  '  Christ's  pre- 
existence,    '  through    the   medium,    so   to   speak,    of   the 

1   (M.).     Cf.  Eph.  1.   10.  22,  23. 
'  Col.  ii.    15. 


ch.  vi.]    FUNDAMENTAL  POSITIONS  OF  PAULINISM      155 

exalted  life  .  .  .  His  function  as  Creator  is  proleptically 
conditioned  by  his  achievement  as  Saviour.'  * 

The  description  of  Christ's  cosmic  significance  reveals 
intimate  affinities  with  tendencies  of  thought  current  in 
contemporary  Hellenistic  speculation.  Even  the  language 
Paul  uses  in  defining  the  relations  of  the  created  universe 
to  Christ,  more  especially  the  prepositional  phrases, '  by 
him,'  '  through  him,'  '  for  him,'  '  in  him,'  find  remarkable 
parallels  alike  in  the  literature  of  Stoicism,  and  (through 
Stoic  influence)  in  the  regular  vocabulary  of  the  popularised 
philosophy  of  the  day.2  It  is  natural,  as  an  induction  from 
the  facts,  to  conclude  that  the  apostle  has  here  an  apolo- 
getic aim  in  view  :  that  of  set  purpose  he  desires  to  exhibit 
Christ  as  satisfying  the  presuppositions  of  a  type  of  philo- 
sophy of  religion  which  had  become  influential  throughout 
the  Roman  Empire.  For  on  every  side  speculation  was 
busy  with  the  conception  of  mediating  influences  between 
God  and  the  world.  The  prominence  of  the  Logos- 
hypostasis  in  the  Stoics  and  in  Philo,  who  mirrors  the 
movements  of  his  time,  indicates  the  drift  of  Hellenistic 
metaphysics.  And  Paul's  statement  that  '  all  coheres  in  ' 
Christ  reminds  us  of  the  common  Stoic  position  that  life 
and  order  in  the  universe  depend  on  the  world-soul,  which 
is  the  constitutive  principle  in  the  system  of  created  things. 
This  world -soul  received  the  names  of  Logos  and  Pneuma 
in  Stoicism.  The  very  term  Paul  employs  in  Col.  i.  17 
for  'coheres'  (o-vv^cttt/k**)  appears  in  precisely  the  same 
connection  in  contemporary  literature  :  e.g.  in  the  anony- 
mous Tlipl  Koarfxov,  6  (which  has  many  traces  of 
Stoic  influence)  :  '  All  things  are  of  God  (**  Oeov),  and 
through  God  (Sia  0cov)  cohere  (o-vi  co-t^kcv)  for  us.'  3 

Of  course  the  special  occasion  which  prompted  this 
remarkable  formulation  of  Paul's  inferences  as  to  the 
cosmic  functions  of  Christ  was,  as  has  been  noted,  the 
emergence  in  the  Churches  of  the  Lycus-valley  of  a  hybrid 

1  H.  R.  Mackintosh,  The  Person  of  Jesus  Christ,  p.  70. 
8  See  E.  Norden,  Agnostos  Theos,  pp.  240-250. 

1  Quoted  by  Norden,  op.  cit.,  p.  250.  Other  instances  in  J.  Weiss,  Dot 
Urchristentum,  p.  370,  n.  1. 


156  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  i. 

blend  of  doctrines  in  which  the  worship  of  angels,  ecstatic 
visions,  and  ascetic  ordinances  held  an  important  place. 
In  Paul's  eyes  the  peculiar  peril  was  the  attempt  to  reach 
God  by  another  path  than  Christ.  The  propagandists 
were  evidently  emphasising  the  existence  of  a  chain  of 
mediating  beings  linking  the  material  to  the  spiritual. 
Through  purifying  mystery-ritual  the  soul  could  come  into 
touoh  with  these,  and  thus  attain  the  Divine.  Paul 
attacks  the  error  by  exalting  Christ  as  the  sole  chamiel  of 
life  and  power  between  God  and  the  universe,  and  in  the 
process  discloses  the  large  horizons  of  his  thought  regarding 
the  ontological  significance  of  Him  whom  he  had  come  to 
know  as  Redeemer  and  Lord. 

It  is  by  no  means  improbable  that  here  Paul,  as  at  other 
points,  touched  Hellenistic  speculations  through  a  Jewish 
medium.  In  the  Wisdom  -literature  of  Judaism  the  con- 
ception of  Wisdom  had  received  a  remarkable  personi- 
fication, as,  e.g.,  in  Prov.  viii.  22,  23,  29,  30:  'The  Lord 
possessed  me  in  the  beginning  of  his  way  before  his  works 
of  old.  I  was  set  up  from  everlasting  .  .  .  When  he 
appointed  the  foundations  of  the  earth,  then  I  was  by  him 
as  a  master-worker '  ;  and  Wisd.  of  Sol.  ix.  2  :  '  By 
means  of  thy  wisdom  thou  didst  create  man.'  It  is 
difficult  to  draw  any  sharp  distinction  between  this 
personification  and  the  Spirit  of  God.  '  She  is  a  breath  of 
the  power  of  God,'  says  the  author  of  Wisd.  of  Sol.  (vii. 
25  ff.),  '  and  a  clear  effluence  of  the  glory  of  the  Almighty 
.  .  .  She  is  an  effulgence  (an-air/acr/ia)  from  everlasting 
light,  and  an  unspotted  mirror  of  the  working  of  God,  and 
an  image  (tlicwv)  of  his  goodness.  And  she,  being  one, 
hath  power  to  do  all  things,  and  remaining  in  herself 
reneweth  all  things  :  and  from  generation  to  generation 
passing  into  holy  souls  she  maketh  men  friends  of  God 
and  prophets  '  Paul  would  be  familiar  with  this  realm  of 
thought,  for  it  was  influential  in  the  Rabbinic  schools. 
It  is  noteworthy  that  he  designates  Christ  the  '  image ' 
(tiKwi)  of  God,  using  the  very  term  applied  to  Wisdom 
in  the  passage  just  cited.     Philo  gives  the  same  description 


ch.  vi.]    FUNDAMENTAL  POSITIONS  OF  PAULINISM      157 

of  the  Logos,  an  hypostasis  with  which  Paul  was  probably 
acquainted.  But  Paul  had  also  identified  the  exalted 
Lord  with  the  Spirit.1  Hence,  when  he  endeavours  to  set 
forth  the  universal  bearing  of  Christ,  who  had  been  for 
him  not  a  metaphysical  abstraction  but  a  living,  redeem- 
ing personality,  it  was  natural  that  he  should  express  his 
ideas  by  means  of  thought -forms  and  a  terminology  which 
had  already  provided  a  meeting-point  for  Hellenistic  and 
Jewish  speculation.  It  may  be  observed  incidentally  that 
it  was  easy  for  a  thinker  of  that  age  to  pass  from  personified 
concepts  to  personality. 

The  evidence  of  1  Cor.  viii.  6  suggests  that,  apart  from 
the  definite  situation  presupposed  in  Colossians,  Paul's 
mind  was  occupied  with  the  ultimate  consequences  of  his 
profound  conception  of  Christ.  There  are  no  clear  data 
to  establish  the  position,  often  hastily  affirmed  by  some 
modern  scholars,  that  these  consequences  were  involved 
in  the  apocalyptic  idea  of  Messiah.  We  are  on  far  surer 
ground  in  regarding  them  as  inferences  from  what  he  had 
discovered  Christ  to  be  in  his  own  experience  and  in  that 
of  the  Church,  inferences  which  he  clothed  in  language 
which  would  appeal  to  his  readers,  both  Jewish  and 
Gentile.  Only  it  seems  hazardous  to  attempt  a  detailed 
analysis  of  his  statements.  J.  Weiss,  e.g.,  commenting  on 
the  phrase  '  in  him  were  created  all  things '  (Col.  i.  16), 
asserts  that  these  words  must  be  taken  in  their  most  literal 
sense.  '  With  his  creation  all  was  created  :  he  contains 
the  All  in  himself  .  .  .  This  can  only  be  understood  if 
Christ  is  here  identified  with  the  Logos.  In  Philo  the 
Logos  as  compendium  of  all  God's  creative  "  ideas  "  con- 
tains the  whole  world  "  in  idea,"  the  "  kosmos  noetos." 
It  is  doubtful  .  .  .  whether  Paul  had  recourse  to  this 
conception  .  .  .  Presumably  he  conceived  of  the  process 
more  materially  :  the  pre -mundane  Son  of  God,  as  "  life- 
creating  Spirit  "  contained  the  energies  and  elements  of 
all  being  realiter  in  himself  :  thus  he  was  in  a  certain  sense 
the  world  itse  f .'  2    We  may  admit  the  close  kinship  be- 

1  E.g.  2  Cor.  iil.  17  ;   cf.  1  Cor.  xv.  45.  a  Christus,  pp.  46,  47. 


158  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft.  i. 

tween  Paul's  idea  of  the  pre-incarnate  Christ  and  the 
contemporary  notion  of  the  Logos.  But  it  is  altogether 
arbitrary  to  read  into  the  apostle's  statements  meta- 
physical conceptions  for  which  there  is  no  evidence  in  his 
writings.  His  thought  was,  in  all  likelihood,  no  more 
metaphysical  than  that  of  the  Wisdom -literatu re  of  his 
nation,  his  affinities  with  which  we  have  noted  above.1 

We  must  be  content  with  the  same  vagueness  in  esti- 
mating Paul's  description  of  the  final  goal  for  the  universe, 
the  '  summing-up  of  all  things  in  Christ,  the  things  in 
heaven  and  the  things  on  earth  '  (Eph.  i.  10).  To  force  on 
the  words  an  abstract,  pantheistic  construction  would  be 
to  fall  into  contradiction  with  various  statements  of  the 
apostle  as  to  the  real  individuality  of  believers  in  the  future 
glorified  existence. 

It  has  already  been  observed  that  for  Paul  the  birth, 
death,  and  resurrection  of  Christ  are  more  than  events  in 
a  personal  history.  They  belong  to  God's  redemptive 
purpose.  They  are  normative  for  the  development  of  the 
world-order,  and  yet  the  apostle  is  so  completely  dominated 
by  the  impression  of  the  historical  Person  which  has  been 
wrought  in  him  through  his  experience  of  the  living  Lord 
and  the  tradition  current  in  the  community,  that  only  once 
does  he  treat  of  the  pre-mundane  existence  of  Christ,  which 
he  is  compelled  to  postulate  in  view  of  the  central  religious 
significance  he  has  discovered  in  Him.  The  passage  occurs 
incidentally  in  an  exhortation  to  lowliness,  and  its  primary 
purpose  is  to  emphasise  the  humility  of  Christ.  It  con- 
tains much  that  is  undefined,  and  it  scarcely  lends  itself 
to  dogmatic  construction,  but  it  none  the  less  indicates 
that  Paul's  mind  had  dwelt  earnestly  on  what  may  be 
called  the  presuppositions  of  the  Incarnation.  'Though 
he  was  divine  by  nature,'  he  writes  to  the  Philippians, 
1  he  did  not  snatch  at  equality  with  God,  but  emptied 
himself  by  taking  the  nature  of  a  servant  :   born  in  human 

Windisch  greatly  exaggerates  the  influence  of  the  Jewish  conception 
r.f  the  Divine  wisdom  on  Paul's  Christology  in  his  ease?  in  ATiifeifawenl 

'/)/./->/!  fur  Q.  fl< inrici,  pp.  -'  ,|; 


ch.  iv.]    FUNDAMENTAL  POSITIONS  OF  PAUL1NLSM      159 

guise  and  appearing  in  human  form,  he  humbly  stooped 
in  his  obedience  even  to  die,  and  to  die  upon  the  cross. 
Therefore  God  highly  exalted  him,  and  gave  him  the  name 
which  is  above  every  name,  that  in  the  name  of  Jesus  every 
knee  should  bow  .  .  .  and  every  tongue  confess  that  Jesus 
Christ  is  Lord,  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father.'  *  Here  we 
have  Paul's  clearest  utterance  as  to  the  pre-existence  of 
Christ,  a  pre-existence  which  he  regards  as  in  some  sense 
individual.  The  most  difficult  phrase  in  the  paragraph 
is  that  which  speaks  of  an  '  equality  with  God '  at  which 
Christ  did  not  snatch.  Plainly  the  apostle  views  the  pre- 
incarnate  attitude  of  Christ  from  the  standpoint  of  his 
post -resurrection  existence.  He  had  come  into  contact 
with  him  as  the  glorified  Lord  to  whom  was  due  the 
universal  worship  of  men.  His  possession  of  this  name 
(Kv/aios),  as  we  have  seen,  placed  Him  side  by  side  with 
God  in  the  eyes  of  humanity.  That  is  what  Paul  means 
by  '  equality.'  But  He  had  reached  that  glory  by  a  path 
of  lowly  obedience  which  led  through  the  scorn  and 
rejection  of  His  earthly  life,  and  the  shame  and  agony  of  the 
cross.  This  was  the  cost  of  redemption,  although  Paul  does 
not  here  explicitly  refer  to  that.  The  incarnation  was  a 
great  act  of  self-renunciation  for  the  sake  of  mankind,  a 
great  act  of  obedience  in  which  the  Son  made  Himself  one 
with  His  Father's  will  that  He  might  bring  sinful  men  to 
God.  Possibly  the  noteworthy  expression,  '  did  not  snatch 
at  equality  with  God,'  contains  a  reminiscence  of  the  First 
Adam,  who,  in  disobedience  to  the  Almighty,  yielded  to 
the  temptation  to  '  be  as  God  '  (Gen.  iii.  5).  It  is  remark- 
able that  even  here  Paul  does  not  dwell  on  the  metaphysical 
implications  of  his  statement.  He  hastens  to  the  act  of 
humble  self-denial,  revealing  the  true  focus  of  his  interest. 
We  are  not,  therefore,  justified  in  attempting  to  analyse 
what  he  means  here  by  the  Divine  Nature  (pop<j>rj)  of  the 
pre-incarnate  Christ.  Nor  is  it  legitimate  to  use  the 
passage  as  evidence  for  the  conception  of  Christ  as  the 
1  Heavenly  Man,'  which  some  scholars  have  attributed  to 

1  Phil.  ii.  6ff.  (partly  M.). 


160  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft.  i. 

the  apostle.  There  is  no  trace  of  such  a  conception  here, 
nor,  in  our  judgment,  anywhere  in  his  writings.1  Paul  leaves 
in  obscurity  that  of  which  the  pre- existent  One  '  emptied  ' 
Himself.2  He  is  content  to  view  the  incarnation,3  even 
when  placed  in  its  cosmic  setting,  as  a  wonderful  disclosure 
of  the  grace  of  Christ,4  that  grace  which  lies  behind  the 
salvation  He  has  accomplished  for  humanity.  And  thus 
once  more  an  utterance  which  touches  realms  of  specu- 
lation in  which  human  thought  grows  dizzy  is  found  to 
have  its  real  basis  in  the  conviction  that  self-sacrifice 
belongs  to  the  very  nature  of  God. 

1  See  an  article  by  the  present  writer  in  Expositor,  1914,  pp.  97-110. 

*  J.  Weiss  quite  arbitrarily  says,  of  '  the  body  of  his  glory  '  (Phil.  iii.  21). 

*  He  never  uses  any  term  like  this. 
«  Cf.  2  Cor.  viii.  9. 


PART    II 

PHASES  OF  EARLY  CHRISTIAN  THOUGHT  IN 
THE  MAIN  INDEPENDENT  OF  PAULINISM 

CHAPTER  I 

THE  FIRST  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

(a)  The  Situation 

In  the  Introduction  a  brief  sketch  has  been  given  of  the 
historical  background  of  the  Epistle,  so  far  as  it  can  be 
reconstructed  from  the  very  fragmentary  data  which  are 
available.  One  or  two  features  of  the  evidence  ought  to  be 
emphasised.  (1)  The  most  striking  fact  as  regards  the 
external  attestation  of  the  document  is  the  place  of 
authority  assigned  to  it  by  Polycarp,1  who  writes  shortly 
after  the  first  decade  of  the  second  century.2  In  making 
his  quotations  from  the  Epistle,  he  does  not  mention  Peter's 
name,  but  his  pupil  Irenseus  regularly  assigns  it  to  the 
apostle.  (2)  On  the  other  hand,  most  modern  scholars 
agree  that,  in  view  of  its  more  or  less  correct  Greek  style, 
the  actual  composition  of  the  Epistle  cannot  be  the  work 
of  Peter.  The  problem  is  elucidated  by  the  words  of 
chap.  v.  12  (M.)  :  '  By  the  hand  of  (Sid)  Silvanus,  a  faithful 
brother  (in  my  opinion),  I  have  written  you  these  few  lines 
of  encouragement.'  A  remarkable  parallel  is  found  in  the 
description  given  by  Dionysius  of  Corinth  (Euseb.  H.  E.y 
iv.  23,  11)  of  Clement's  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  in  which 
the  same  preposition  (6\a)  emphasises  Clement's  function 
as  mouthpiece  of  the  Roman  Church.  Silvanus,  already 
a  person  of  authority  in  the  Christian  community  and 
one  of  Paul's  trusted  fellow-missionaries  (1  Thess.  i.  1, 

1  See  Chase,  H.  D.  B.,  iii.  p.  781. 

*  See  Lightfoot,  Apostolic  Fathers,  Part  II.,  vol.  i.  p.  428. 
L 


162  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  ii. 

2  Thess.  i.  1,  2  Cor.  i.  19,  Acts  xv.  32,  40,  etc.),  is  more  than 
the  bearer  of  this  Epistle.  He  has  had  the  responsibility 
of  shaping  the  apostle's  exhortation,  and  it  may  well  be 
that  some  of  the  marked  affinities  with  Paul  are  due  to 
the  fact  that  Silvanus,  as  coadjutor  of  the  great  Gen- 
tile missionary,  '  acquired  a  sympathy  or  familiarity  with 
his  characteristic  modes  of  thought  and  expression.'  1 
(3)  The  language  of  chap.  iv.  3  is  sufficient  proof  that  the 
Epistle  is  addressed  to  Christians  who  had  been  converted 
from  Paganism.  Since,  however,  by  the  second  half  of 
the  first  century  the  Christian  community  regarded  itself 
as  the  true  heir  of  the  chosen  people,  the  distinction 
between  its  Jewish  and  Gentile  elements  had  ceased  to  be 
of  primary  importance.  It  has  been  suggested  that  the 
order  in  which  the  various  provinces  are  mentioned, 
'  Pontus,  Galatia,  Cappadocia,  Asia,  and  Bithynia,' 
'  reflects  the  road  followed  by  the  bearer  of  the  letter.'  2 
No  reason  can  be  given  for  the  selection  of  these  particular 
localities,  but  Peter's  name  and  authority  would  be 
familiar  to  them  all.  (4)  It  is  almost  impossible  to  doubt 
that  '  Babylon,'  which  is  obviously  the  place  of  writing 
(v.  13),  is  a  cryptic  name  for  Rome  as  the  symbol  of 
arrogance,  secular  power,  and  ungodliness.  It  is  used 
frequently  in  this  sense  in  the  Apocalypse  (e.g.  xiv.  8, 
xviii.  2,  10,  21). 3  A  tradition  of  the  Church  which  goes  as 
far  back  as  Papias  gives  this  interpretation,4  and  there  is 
no  valid  testimony  which  associates  the  apostle  with  the 
real  Babylon.  Now,  as  early  as  a.d.  96,  we  have  the 
witness  of  Clement  {ad  Cor.  v.  1-4)  as  to  Peter's  martyrdom, 
and  the  context  of  the  statement  certainly  seems  to  imply 
that  he  suffered  at  Rome.5  A  combination  of  the  facts 
would  suggest  that  when  the  Epistle  was  written  the 
Christian    community    of    the    metropolis    had    already 

1   MoffaU,  Introduction,  p.  332.     See  also  Zahn,  Einlcitung,  ii.  pp.  10,  11. 
■  Ifoflatt,  op.  cit.,  p.  327. 

•  Hurl  (/•'.  §.  7'.,  v.  p.  ]!»)  points  Ottt  that  the  Jewish  author  of  Book  V. 
of  the  Sibylline  Oracles  (dated  by  Geffcken  shortly  after  70  a.d.)  uses 
Babylon  fur  Home. 

4  See  Zahn,  op.  cit.,  ii.  pp.    19,  20. 

•  See  Zahn,  op.  oil.,  i.  pp.  US- 448 ;    ii.  22-27. 


oh.  i.]  THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER  163 

experienced  the  skilfully  planned  outbreak  of  Nero's 
rage  and  cruelty,  an  outbreak  which  finally  led  to  more  or 
less  organised  persecution  of  the  Church. 

The  actual  character  of  the  persecutions  referred  to  in 
the  Epistle  is  the  most  important  question  of  all  for  the 
reconstruction  of  its  environment.  Rash  inferences  have 
been  drawn  by  many  scholars  from  the  somewhat  incidental 
and  unstudied  allusions  found  in  the  document.  When 
these  are  examined  without  prejudice,  they  are  seen  to 
reflect  a  situation  which  must  have  been  common,  as  soon 
as  the  Christian  movement  became  a  force  to  be  reckoned 
with.  The  chief  strain  in  the  exhortations  of  the  Epistle, 
which  bear  upon  the  sufferings  of  its  readers,  is  the  appeal 
to  live  down  the  slanders  of  ignorant  pagan  critics  by  their 
blameless  conduct.1  We  know  from  the  literature  of  the 
early  Church  that  insinuations  were  made  against  the 
Christians  as  to  shameful  orgies  and  unnatural  crimes. 
This  was  the  penalty  of  their  quiet  gatherings  for  worship 
and  their  fraternal  love.  Nero  had  taken  advantage  of 
the  situation  to  make  the  Christians  at  Rome  the  scapegoats 
of  his  own  crime.  But,  further,  it  is  interesting  to  observe 
that  just  as  Paul,  after  urging  his  readers  at  Rome  to 
overcome  evil  with  good,  proceeds  to  enjoin  submission  to 
existing  authority,2  so  Peter  in  a  precisely  similar  context 
exhorts  Christian  slaves  to  obey  their  masters,  even  when 
they  make  unreasonable  demands  and  treat  them  cruelly. 
Here  we  get  a  hint  of  special  hardships  which  have  to 
be  borne  for  Christ's  sake  by  men  and  women  who  were 
at  the  mercy  of  those  who  had  the  power  over  them  of 
life  and  death.  The  innumerable  occasions  on  which 
heathen  rites  mingled  with  the  details  of  family  life  would 
afford  opportunities  for  such  harsh  tyranny. 

Various  scholars  have  held  that  iv.  15  ('  Let  no  man 
suffer  as  a  murderer  or  a  thief  or  an  evil-doer  or  an 
officious  meddler,3  but  if  as  a  Christian,  let  him  not  be 

1  E.g.  ii.  12,  15  ;   iii.  16.  *  Rom.  xii.  19 — xiii.  5. 

*  It  is  probably  best  to  explain  the  hapax  legomenon,  aWor pioctrLoKoiros, 
as  Zeller  does,  from  contemporary  philosophical  usage,  which  shows  that 
the  charge  of  meddlesomeness  was  brought  against  ardent  Cynic  propa- 


164  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES         [pt.  ii. 

ashamed,  but  let  him  glorify  God  because  of  this  name ') 
presupposes  the  process  mentioned  by  Pliny  in  his  famous 
letter  to  Trajan,  in  which  the  Christians  were  condemned, 
not  because  of  any  alleged  crime,  but  '  on  account  of  the 
Name  alone '  (propter  nomen  ipsum) .  That  would  of 
course  point  to  a  period  of  organised  persecution  by  the 
Imperial  authorities,  such  as  appeared  in  the  reigns  of 
Domitian  and  Trajan.  But,  as  Bigg  aptly  observes,  this 
Epistle  shows  that  they  were  regarded  as  evil-doers.1  And, 
in  any  case,  the  statement  of  iv.  14,  '  If  you  are  re- 
proached in  the  name  of  Christ,  you  are  blessed/  words 
which  are  probably  an  echo  of  Matt.  v.  11,  suggests  some- 
thing much  less  formal  than  a  legal  indictment  for  bearing 
the  name  '  Christian.'  Followers  of  Christ  would  inevitably 
look  upon  the  sufferings  involved  in  their  loyalty  to  their 
Lord  as  endured  for  His  name.  This  interpretation  tallies 
with  what  we  have  seen  to  be  the  general  character  of  the 
allusions  throughout  the  Epistle.2  Nor  is  it  at  all  under- 
mined either  by  iv.  12  ('  Do  not  be  surprised  at  the  ordeal 
which  has  come  to  test  you  '),  or  by  v.  8  ('  Your  enemy 
the  devil  prowls  like  a  roaring  lion  looking  out  for  some  one 
to  devour').3  In  every  region  where  Christianity  got  a 
foothold,  there  would  necessarily  come  a  time  when  the 
attention  of  their  neighbours  would  be  directed  to  the 
members  of  the  new  sect.  This  time  had  arrived  in  the 
Asiatic  provinces  for  which  the  Epistle  is  intended.  If  it 
was  written  after  Nero's  savage  attack  upon  the  Christians 
at  Rome,  we  might  naturally  suppose  that  the  eddies  of 
that  disturbance  had  spread  to  the  more  distant  parts 
of  the  Empire.  Perhaps  this  very  fact  is  indicated  by  v.  9  : 
1  Knowing  how  to  pay  the  same  tax  of  suffering  as  your 
brethren  throughout  the  world  '  (M.).  The  reference  to  the 
machinations  of  the  devil  is  not  more  emphatic  than  Paul's 

Lin. lists.     *A   Christian   might  give  great  offence   by   ill-timed   protests 
against  common  social  customs,  such  as  the  use  of  garlands,  or  of  meat 
1  to  idolfl  at  dinner  parties  '  i  Blggi  <id  loc). 

•  i   munmtary  on  St.  Peter  and  St.  JutU,  p.  3U. 

'   For  a  discussion    Of   details,    marked    by   great  historical    insight,  BOS 
Big;/,  up.  rit.,  pp.   24-3'J  *   M« 


ch.  i.]  THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER  165 

warning  in  Eph.  vi.  11  ff.,  that  Christians  are  confronted  by 
Satanic  wiles,  and  have  to  struggle  not  against  mere  human 
adversaries  but  against  spiritual  forces  of  evil  in  the 
heavenly  sphere. 

It  seems  appropriate,  therefore,  to  assign  the  Epistle  to 
a  date  not  long  after  Nero's  persecution,  anywhere  between 
64  and  66  or  67  a.d.1 


(b)  Essentially  Practical  Character  of  the  Theology 

The  clue  to  the  contents  of  the  Epistle  is  given  in  v.  12, 
which  describes  the  purpose  of  the  writer  as  being  to 
testify  '  that  this  is  what  the  true  grace  of  God  means  '  (M.). 
When  the  Epistle  is  examined  in  the  light  of  that  statement, 
we  find  that  '  the  true  grace  of  God  '  embraces  the  splendid 
hope  which  has  been  disclosed  in  the  resurrection  of  Christ, 
and  all  the  kindness  which  God  the  Father  has  shown  to 
men.  But  this  Divine  grace,  in  the  generosity  of  its  scope, 
is  emphasised  for  a  definite  reason.  The  communities 
addressed  are  called  to  pass  through  severe  trials.  These 
are  a  sharp  test  of  faith  and  conduct.  There  is  the  danger 
of  feeling  disappointed  at  such  an  issue  of  their  new  career. 
Might  they  not  have  expected  peace  rather  than  conflict  ? 
Is  it  worth  while  to  continue  in  so  difficult  a  course  ?  Such 
disillusionment  will  be  reinforced  by  the  temptation  to 
compromise  with  the  lower  moral  standard  which  con- 
fronts them  on  every  side.  It  will  be  natural  to  fall  back 
into  heathen  ways  and  so  escape  suffering.  But  the  Lord 
whose  name  they  bear,  for  whom  the}^  have  to  face  shame 
and  pain,  was  Himself  a  sufferer,  and  He  had  done  no 
wrong.  It  was  through  suffering  that  He  achieved  the 
redemption  of  man,  and  He  bore  all  with  lowliness  and 
calmness.  They  are  called  to  share  in  His  experiences,  to 
follow  in  His  steps.  And  they  are  not  left  to  meet  their 
trials  alone.  They  belong  to  God.  They  invoke  Him 
as  Father.  They  have  been  born  again  of  immortal  seed. 
God's  power  is  at  their  disposal  :  the  Spirit  of  Him  who  has 

1  For  an  excellent  discussion  of  the  date,  see  Moffatt,  op.  cit.,  pp.  338-342. 


166  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  u. 

called  them  to  His  eternal  glory  in  Christ  Jesus.  Only, 
they  have  a  great  moral  duty  both  to  God  and  to  men. 
They  must  live  worthily  of  the  Holy  One  who  has  redeemed 
them  at  such  a  cost.  They  must  spend  their  days  as 
pilgrims,  in  the  midst  of  an  impure  environment,  so  con- 
trolling all  evil  lusts  and  tempers  that  their  pagan  neigh- 
bours will  be  impressed  by  their  conduct,  and  led  to  glorify 
God  because  of  them.  This  will  remove  all  valid  causes  of 
slander  and  maltreatment.  If  they  have  to  suffer,  it  will 
be  suffering  for  righteousness'  sake,  as  Christ's  was.  And 
at  the  end  the  unfading  crown  of  glory  awaits  them. 

Obviously,  the  Epistle,  from  its  raison  d'etre,  is  essentially 
practical.  The  arrangement  of  thought  is  homiletical  and 
not  logical.1  It  is  the  pastoral  address  of  an  earnest  and 
affectionate  Christian  missionary  to  communities  of  whose 
circumstances  he  is  aware.  If  it  be  said  that  Hope  is  the 
central  idea  of  the  Letter,  we  must  note  that  its  prominence 
is  due  to  the  depressed  conditions  of  the  readers.  It 
is  quite  illegitimate  on  this  account  to  call  Peter  the 
Apostle  of  Hope.  When  occasion  demands,  Paul  gives  it 
equal  importance.  Here  it  has  no  theological,  but  entirely 
a  religious  significance.  It  is  when  the  author  speaks  of 
the  Christian  life  that  he  shows  originality.2  Those  ideas 
which  ma}'  be  justly  described  as  theological  are  introduced 
not  for  their  own  sake,  but  in  order  to  confirm  and  enhance 
the  practical  considerations  which  the  apostle  uses  to  cheer 
and  encourage  his  readers.  Hence  we  must  be  on  our 
guard  throughout  against  reading  into  his  reflective  utter- 
ances more  than  he  intended  them  to  contain 


(c)  Affinities  with  Paul 

The  most  delicate  problem  raised  by  an  investigation 
of  the  thought  of  our  Epistle  is  that  of  its  relation  to  the 
religious  standpoint  of  Paul.  Sweeping  statements  have 
been  made  for  which  there  is  no  justification.     %  Is  not 

J  See  (Junkel,  Die  Schriftm  d.  N.  T.,  ii.  p.  .f>:i". 
1  Hot>  W.  Bauer,  Die  kuthulinchen  Brief e,  p.  31. 


ch.  I.]  THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER  167 

everything/  asks  Wernle,  '  in  1  Peter  from  the  first  line  to 
the  last  Pauline  language  and  Pauline  thought  ?  '  *  The 
fallacy  which  lies  behind  such  a  view  is  the  assumption 
that  there  was  no  attempt  to  shape  religious  ideas  in  the 
early  Church  except  that  made  by  Paul.  It  may  be  granted 
that  his  was  by  far  the  most  powerful  intellect  brought 
to  bear  upon  the  data  of  Christian  experience,  and  that 
probably  no  other  leader  in  the  Apostolic  Age  had  the  same 
natural  bias  to  systematise  the  material  which  lay  before 
him.  But  we  have  already  adduced  evidence  to  show 
that  when  Paul  entered  the  Christian  community  he  found 
reflection  busy  with  the  work  of  interpreting  such  facts  as 
the  death  and  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  gift  of  the 
Spirit,  and  the  Second  Advent.  And  there  can  be  little 
doubt,  as  we  have  seen,  that  he  largely  accepted  the  funda- 
mental positions  which  had  already  been  taken  up.2  As  it 
happens,  we  have  important  testimony  that  Peter  was  in 
agreement  with  his  brother  apostle  on  the  basal  value  of 
faith.  Paul  can  appeal  to  him  on  this  common  ground  : 
1  Knowing  that  a  man  cannot  be  justified  by  the  works  of 
the  law,  out  only  through  faith  in  Christ  Jesus,  we  also 
(i.e.  we  Jews)  put  our  trust  in  Christ  Jesus.'  3  Accordingly, 
it  is  quite  illegitimate  to  say  that  the  central  place  given 
to  faith  or  to  the  atoning  death  and  resurrection  of  Christ 
in  this  Epistle  is  due  to  the  influence  of  Paul  He  un- 
questionably elaborated  ideas  which  he  found  only  in 
germ,  and  in  various  instances  moulded  them  into  forms 
which  dominated  later  generations,  but  often  the  less 
articulate  conceptions  of  the  earlier  epoch  were  more 
easily  assimilated.  Hence  much  of  the  fundamental 
agreement  between  this  Epistle  and  the  essentials  of 
Paulinism  must  be  referred  to  the  common  heritage  of 
the  apostolic  Church.  That  rich  store  of  ideas  we  shall 
examine  in  the  following  section.  There  we  shall  find  the 
paramount  influence  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  especially 
of  the  prophets,  on  Peter's  religious  thought,  as  well  as 

1  Einfilhrung,  p.  137.     So  also  Holtzraann,  op.  cit.,  ii.  p.  350  f. 
*  See  esp.  1  Cor.  xv.  3  ff.  '  Gal.  ii.  16. 


168  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft.  ii. 

many  reminiscences  of  the  teaching  of  Jesus.  Throughout 
we  are  conscious  of  a  simple,  earnest,  affectionate  nature, 
whose  keen  sympathies  make  him  receptive  rather  than 
originative  :  who  would  therefore  readily  respond  to  the 
impress  of  a  stronger  mind,  and  yet  by  the  force  of  his 
spirituality  impart  something  of  his  own  tone  to  the  con- 
victions on  which  he  places  value. 

A  comparison  of  1  Peter  with  the  Pauline  Epistles 
undoubtedly  suggests  that  the  author  was  acquainted  with 
some  of  them,  notably  that  to  the  Romans.  Thus,  in 
iii.  9,  Peter  urges  his  readers  not  to  return  evil  for  evil 
(firj  oVoSiSovtcs  kolkov  avrl  kclkoi),  using  the  very  phrase 
which  Paul  has  in  Rom.  xii.  17.  What  is  specially 
significant  is  that  in  both  contexts  it  is  introduced  between 
admonitions  to  lowliness  and  advice  to  preserve  peace 
with  all  men.  His  knowledge  of  Rom.  xii.  is  further 
attested  by  his  use  within  the  same  paragraph  (ii.  2,  ii.  5) 
of  the  same  rare  adjective  (AoyiKo's)  for  '  spiritual '  as  Paul 
employs  (xii.  1),  and  the  same  conception  of  Christians  as 
offering  spiritual  sacrifices  well -pleasing  to  God  (xii.  1). 
Equally  remarkable  is  the  employment  by  Peter  (ii.  6,  8) 
of  the  same  quotations  from  Isa.  xxviii.  16,  viii.  14  as  appear 
in  Rom.  ix.  33,  and,  a  few  sentences  later  (ii.  10),  of  the 
same  passage  from  Hosea  (ii.  23)  as  Paul  cites  in  Rom.  ix.  25. 
There  are  some  interesting  parallel  expressions  in  Rom.  xiii. 
1-7  and  1  Pet.  ii.  13-17,  but  here  Peter's  thought  follows 
quite  independent  lines.  We  must  confess  that  we  find  it 
as  difficult  as  Dr.  Bigg  does  to  discover  those  subtle  affinities 
between  1  Peter  and  Ephesians  which  appeal  so  strongly 
to  Hort  and  others.1  There  are  a  few  vague  parallels,  but 
no  close  inter-relation  of  ideas  is  at  all  prominent. 

It  is  of  course  impossible  to  get  beyond  conjecture  in 
accounting  for  Peter's  knowledge  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Romans  or  any  other  of  Paul's  Letters.  But  the  fact  that 
he  wrote  from  Rome  reminds  us  of  his  intimate  connection 
with  that  particular  Christian  community,  which  must  have 

1  Bee  Hort,  The.  First  Epistle  of  St.  Peter,  p.  5,  and  Zahn's  list  of  alleged 
parallels  op.  rit.,  ii.  p.  36. 


ch.  i.]  THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER  160 

reckoned  Paul's  Epistle  among  its  most  treasured  posses- 
sions. If,  as  has  been  suggested,  Silvanus,  a  friend  and 
fellow -labourer  of  Paul,  was  directly  concerned  in  the 
shaping  of  Peter's  Epistle,  it  is  not  surprising  that  echoes 
of  the  great  missionary's  words,  as  well  as  of  his  thoughts, 
should  here  and  there  be  overheard. 

When  we  examine  the  normative  ideas  of  the  Epistle 
in  the  light  of  the  fundamental  positions  accepted  through- 
out the  Church,  we  are  not  impressed  by  their  alleged 
reproduction  of  Paulinism.  It  is  not  surprising,  e.g., 
to  find  a  function  of  the  highest  import  assigned  to  faith 
in  this  Epistle.  But  its  colour  is  different  from  that  of 
Paul's  watchword.  In  Paul,  as  we  have  observed,  faith 
is  the  supreme  channel  of  spiritual  life  and  power.  It  is 
the  nexus  of  the  most  intimate  fellowship  between  the  soul 
and  Christ.  For  Peter,  as  for  all  Christians  of  the  Apostolic 
Age,  salvation  is  impossible  without  faith.  But  the  special 
nuance  of  his  conception  may  be  discerned  in  i.  20,  21, 
where  he  speaks  of  Christ  as  revealed  '  at  the  end  of  the 
ages  on  your  account,  who,  through  him,  believe  in  God 
that  raised  him  from  the  dead  and  gave  him  glory,  so  that 
your  faith  and  hope  is  in  God.'  1  This  attitude  reminds  us 
rather  of  the  Synoptics  than  of  Paul.  In  view  of  it,  we 
can  understand  why  Paul's  central  idea  of  justification 
does  not  occur  in  1  Peter.  Nor  is  it  legitimate  to  quote 
the  important  passage  on  Christ's  atoning  death  (ii.  21-24) 
as  a  proof  of  the  Paulinism  of  the  author.  The  profound 
delineation  of  the  Servant  of  the  Lord  in  Isa.  liii.  has  a 
much  more  inward  relation  to  it,  and  we  know  how  much 
emphasis  was  laid  on  that  delineation  in  the  early  Chiurch, 
in  its  endeavours  to  interpret  the  scandal  of  the  cross. 
At  the  same  time  we  are  reminded  every  here  and  there 
that  Paul's  powerful  exposition  of  the  Gospel  has  left  its 
permanent  mark  on  the  general  Christian  position.  In  the 
passage  just  referred  to,  the  writer  states  as  the  purpose  of 

1  This  rendering  seems  preferable  to  that  favoured  by  Moffatt  and 
others  :  '  so  that  your  faith  is  also  hope  in  God.'  See  Hort's  strong 
arguments  ad  loc. 


170  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [it.  ii. 

Christ's  atoning  death,  '  that  we  having  died  {xTroyzv 6 /zooi) l 
to  sins,  might  live  unto  righteousness.'  This  is  an  echo  of 
Rom.  vi.  2,  11,  18.  Yet  no  stress  is  laid  on  Paul's  crucial 
idea  of  dying  and  rising  with  Christ.  And,  what  is  equally 
noteworthy,  Peter  speaks  of  a  death  to  '  sins,'  individual 
acts  of  transgression,  while  Paul  invariably  represents  the 
experience  as  a  death  to  '  sin,'  sin  being  conceived  as  a 
terrible  semi -personified  Power  to  which  men  are  in  slavery. 
A  similar  example  of  Pauline  influence  may  be  traced  in 
iii.  18,  where  it  is  said  of  Christ  that  he  was  '  put  to  death 
in  the  flesh,  but  made  alive  in  the  spirit.'  Here  is  Paul's 
favourite  antithesis  of  flesh  and  spirit,  which  appears  again 
in  iv.  6.2  But  that  Peter  has  in  no  sense  adopted  Paul's 
psychology  is  obvious  from  his  regular  use  of  ^v\rj,  '  soul ' 
(i.  9,  22 ;  ii.  11,  25)  to  denote  the  inner  life  on  its  religious 
side.  In  this  connection  it  may  be  noted  that  he  has  no 
trace  of  that  eschatology,  built  up  on  the  conception  of 
irvcvpa,  '  spirit,'  which  is  so  normative  for  Paul's  religious 
thought. 

(d)  The  Atmosphere  of  the  Common  Church-consciousness 

Dr.  MorTatt's  description  of  the  author  of  1  Peter  as  {  a 
primitive  Christian  who  had  breathed  the  Messianic  atmo- 
sphere of  the  better  Judaism,'  3  gives  the  exact  clue  to  the 
general  standpoint  of  our  Epistle.  For  it  reveals  far  closer 
affinities  with  the  current  Christian  thought  of  the  early 
apostolic  Church  than  with  that  world  of  ideas  which 
sprang  from  the  creative  genius  of  Paul.  Its  religion  has 
its  root  in  the  Christian  Messianism  which  dominated  the 
Palestinian  community  of  believers  from  the  outset.  Even 
those  conceptions  which  may  be  regarded  as  more  or  less 

1  Bigg's  hesitation  a?  to  whether  axoylveadai  could  ever  have  been  used 
as  a  direct  antithesis  to  ff;*/  is  invalidated  by  the  evidence  from  pre-Christian 
papyri  in  Moulton  and  Milligan's   Vocabulary,  sub  voce. 

*  Bee  also  iv.  1  f.  :  '  Since,  therefore,  Christ  has  suffered  in  the  flesh, 
equip  yourselves  with  the  same  purpose  (?vvot.a  in  LXX  usually  trans- 
lates nfpTD),  for  he  who  has  suffered  in  the  flesh  has  got  rid  of  sin,'  which 
is  unmistakably  connected  with  Rom.  vi.  7  :  '  He  who  is  dead  ic  absolved 
from  the  elaima  of  sin.'  J  Op.  tit.,  p.  331. 


ch.  i. J  THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER  171 

peculiar  to  the  Epistle  have  an  intimate  connection  with 
the  '  better  Judaism  '  from  which  the  earliest  disciples  of 
Jesus  were  drawn. 

The  conviction  that  Jesus  was  the  Messiah,  confirmed 
and  established  as  it  was  for  them  by  His  resurrection, 
carried  with  it  the  most  far-reaching  consequences.  The 
brotherhood  which  bore  His  name  stepped  at  once  into  the 
position  of  the  '  true  Israel,'  the  real  '  people  of  God.' 
Probably  nowhere  else  in  the  New  Testament  does  the 
belief  find  such  splendid  expression  as  in  chap.  ii.  9, 10  (M.): 
'  You  are  the  elect  race,  the  royal  priesthood,  the  consecrated 
nation,  the  people  who  belong  to  him,  that  you  may  proclaim 
the  wondrous  deeds  of  him  who  has  called  you  from  darkness 
to  his  wonderful  light — you  who  once  were  no  people  and 
now  are  God's  people,  you  who  once  were  unpitied  and  now 
are  pitied.'  l  This  is  their  destiny  as  the  people  of  the 
Messiah. 

We  do  not  dwell  on  the  numerous  passages  which  find 
Christ  in  the  Old  Testament,  as  we  must  examine  certain 
special  aspects  of  this  idea  in  the  next  section.  A  very 
striking  instance  appears  in  the  cento  of  verses  from 
Isaiah  and  Psalms  in  ii.  3-8.  But  it  may  be  noted  in 
passing  that  the  interpretation  of  Christ's  death  in  the 
light  of  an  Old  Testament  background  reveals  by  its 
fragmentary  character  its  proximity  to  the  attempts 
made  in  the  early  apostolic  community  to  shed  fight  on  the 
enigma  of  the  cross.  In  harmony  with  this  is  the  simple 
Christology  which  is  presupposed  in  the  Epistle,  and  which 
reminds  us  forcibly  of  Peter's  addresses,  as  reported  in  the 
first  half  of  the  book  of  Acts.2  Nothing  explicit  appears  as 
to  Christ's  inner  nature  or  His  essential  relation  to  God, 
questions  which  take  so  prominent  a  position  in  Paul's 
Imprisonment-Epistles,  probably  written  shortly  before 
this. 

At  no  point  is  the  dominant  tone  of  the  early  Christian 

1  The  italicised  words  are  quotations  from  the  Old  Testament. 
*  For  parallels,  cf.  i.  17  with  Acta  x.  34,  xv.  9  ;    i.  20  with  Acts  ii.  23; 
iii.  19,  20  with  Arts  ii.  25-28  ;    iv.  16  with  Acts  v.  41. 


172  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [it.  il 

society  more  manifest  than  in  the  emphasis  laid  by  the 
Epistle  on  the  hope  of  the  heavenly  inheritance  which 
awaits  believers.  Everything  here  is  transformed  Messianic 
aspiration.  Hope  had  been  for  centuries  the  very  nerve 
of  the  Messianic  idea.  And  it  had  reached  forward  to  a 
beritage,  often  material  enough  in  quality,  but  transcending 
all  previous  experience.  But  the  Christian  Messiah  had 
revolutionised  the  older  expectation.  As  risen  and  exalted 
at  God's  right  hand,  He  had  become  the  pledge  of  immortal 
life  for  His  followers.  The  heritage  of  God's  people  is  no 
longer  a  purified  earth.  It  is  His  '  eternal  glory,'  the  per- 
fected salvation,1  which  means  complete  assimilation  to 
the  Divine  likeness.  Perhaps  Beyschlag  is  justified  in 
saying  that  in  our  Epistle  the  outlook  of  the  Christian  hope 
towards  the  salvation  yet  to  be  revealed  '  outweighs  the 
lofty  feeling,  so  powerful  in  Paul,  of  already  possessing 
salvation.'  2  At  the  same  time  we  must  not  ignore  the 
fact,  already  emphasised,  that  owing  to  the  situation  of 
the  communities  addressed  the  apostle  was  led  to  make  use 
of  this  conception  as  a  motive  to  courage  and  endurance. 

That  this  stress  on  hope,  however,  is  not  merely  the 
result  of  the  special  circumstances  appears  from  the 
prominent  place  given  to  what  the  author  is  fond  of 
calling  '  the  revelation  of  Jesus  Christ.'  The  thought 
belongs  so  essentially  to  his  outlook  that  within  this  short 
Epistle  it  appears  again  and  again  in  various  guises.3 
Here  we  breathe  the  genuine  atmosphere  of  the  apostolic 
Church.  Of  course  Paul  has  given  full  expression  to  the 
expectation  of  the  Parousia,  but  in  the  Imprisonment- 
Epistles,  which  belong,  roughly  speaking,  to  the  period  to 
which  we  have  assigned  1  Peter,  the  vividness  of  the 
expectation  has  been  largely  modified.  Indeed,  Peter's 
favourite  idea  of  the  %  revelation  '  of  Christ,  which  is 
rare  in  Paul,  finds  its  only  direct  parallels  in  1  Corinthians 
and  2  Thessalonians.4     Thus  the  Epistle  is  strictly  true  to 

i  v.  10;  i.  9.  «  N.  T.  Theology,  i.  p.  384. 

•  See  i.  5.  7,  11.  L3 :   ii.  1l';   iv.  7,  IS,  17;   v.  1,  4. 

•  1  Cor.  i.  7  ;    2  These,  i.  7. 


OH.  i.]  THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER  173 

the  ruling  tradition  of  Palestinian  Christianity,  only 
that  the  eschatological  accompaniments  of  the  Second 
Advent  are  for  the  most  part  summed  up  in  the  rich 
conception  of  '  glory,'  which  is  by  no  means  an  exclu- 
sively Pauline  idea. 

In  discussing  Paul's  indebtedness  to  the  general  Christian 
standpoint  found  by  him  in  the  Church  when  he  entered 
it,  we  discovered  the  primary  importance  of  the  memory 
of  the  historical  Jesus.  Our  Epistle  bears  its  testimony 
no  less  clearly.  A  careful  investigation  of  its  text  reveals 
a  remarkable  number  of  reminiscences.  These  are  all  the 
more  convincing  because  they  appear  quite  artlessly  in 
what  is  a  practical  exhortation.1  But  the  impression  of 
Jesus'  character  as  a  man  among  men  is  best  indicated  in 
chap.  ii.  21  f.,  where  Peter  reminds  his  readers  that  Christ, 
in  the  sufferings  He  bore  on  their  account,  has  left  them  an 
example  that  they  should  follow  in  His  steps.  The  passage 
which  portrays  that  example  is  really  a  description  of 
Jesus'  bearing  during  His  trial.2  Nothing  could  more 
plainly  show  the  indelible  recollection  of  the  Master 
cherished  by  His  disciples. 

A  reference  may  be  made,  in  closing  this  section,  to  the 
points  of  contact  between  our  Epistle  and  Hebrews.  There 
is,  indeed,  nothing  to  suggest  dependence  on  either  side. 
Moreover,  each  Epistle,  notably  Hebrews,  presents  a 
series  of  marked  idiosyncrasies.  The  parallels  suggest 
what,  it  is  hoped,  the  present  discussion  has  already  made 
plain,  that  both  documents  share  in  a  common  spiritual 
atmosphere,  that  of  the  Christian  community  as  a  whole, 
an  atmosphere  which  cannot  be  dispelled  by  the  individual 
features  which  they  possess.  Such  conceptions  as  faith 
(with  a  different  shade  of  meaning  from  that  in  Paul), 
cleansing  through  the  blood  of  Christ,  inheriting  the 
promised  blessing,  antitypes  of  the  Christian  order  as  found 
in  the  Old  Testament,  the  finality  of  Christ's  sacrifice, 

1  E.g.  i.  13=Luke  xii.  35  ;  ii.  6  ff.  =  Matt.  xxi.  42  ;  ii.  12=Matt.  v.  16  ; 
ii.  21f.=Matt.  xvi.  21  f.  ;  iii.  14=Matt.  v.  10;  iv.  7,  10=Mark  xiii. 
33,  34  ;  v.  5,  6=Matt.  xxiii.  12  ;  v.  7  =Matt.  vi.  25  f.  ;  v.  10  =  Luke  xxii.  32. 

8  ii.  23.     See  Feine,  N.  T.  The  tlogie,  p.  572. 


174  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  ii. 

must  all  have  been  current  in  the  apostolic  Church.1  Their 
appearance  in  common  in  two  epistles,  whose  authors 
are  men  of  such  different  moulds,  reminds  us  of  the  rich 
heritage  of  religious  thought  which  belonged  to  the  early 
Christian  community,  independently  of  Paul's  epoch- 
making  constructions. 

(e)  Conceptions  characteristic  of  the  Epistle 

1.  Old  Testament  Prophecy 

We  have  already  noted  the  emphasis  laid  in  this  Epistle 
on  the  connection  between  the  old  revelation  and  the  new. 
That  was  of  course  a  position  universally  valid  in  the 
early  Church.  The  use  of  the  Old  Testament  as  the  Bible 
of  the  Christian  community  had  a  large  significance.  It 
provided  them  with  a  vocabulary  by  which  to  express  and 
interpret  their  profoundest  convictions,  and,  what  was  of 
even  greater  importance,  it  supplied  the  background  against 
which  they  were  able  to  understand  the  development  of 
God's  redeeming  purpose  for  humanity. 

It  was  natural  that  the  most  spiritual  minds  should 
find  themselves  specially  at  home  in  the  prophetic  writings 
and  recognise  the  kinship  of  these  with  the  mind  of  Christ. 
From  beginning  to  end  of  this  Epistle,  Peter's  memory 
rings  with  echoes  of  the  ancient  preachers  of  righteousness.2 
This  feature  he  shared  with  his  fellow-apostle  Paul.  But 
he  proceeds  to  elaborate  the  relations  between  the  prophets 
and  the  era  of  salvation  which  had  already  dawned,  in 
very  definite  terms.  All  Christian  teachers  were  agreed 
that  the  prophets  had  predicted  the  advent  of  the  Divine 
grace  which  was  the  actual  experience  of  the  apostolic 
Church.     They  were  agreed  that  such  passages  as  Isa.  liii. 

•  <  t.  i.  9=Heb.  x.  39;  i.  21  -Hob.  vi.  1,  xi.  1;  v.  9=Heb.  xi.  33; 
i  2  Hfb.  xii.  24,  x.  22;  iii.  9 -- Heb.  xii.  17;  iii.  21— Hob.  ix.  24; 
iii.  18=IIeb.  ix.  26,  27,  28. 

1  Th<>  following  collodion  of  parallels  is  based  on  Moffatt  s  list  (p.  332, 
note):  i.  24f.=Isa.  xl.  6  f.  ;  ii.  6f.=-Isa.  viii.  14,  xxviii.  16;  ii.  9  1. 
=  I?a.  xliii.  20  f.  ;  ii.  22  f.  Isa.  liii.  5,  0,  12;  i.  11  Isa.  Hii.  7,  8  ;  i.  18 
^Isa.  Iii.  :t  :    ii.  25     [sa.  liii.  6;    iii.   15     f«a.  viii,  13;    iv.  14-=lsa.  .m.  8. 


ch.  i.]  THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER  175 

pointed  to  the  sufferings  of  the  Messiah  and  the  glory  that 
should  follow.  Peter  traces  this  superhuman  knowledge 
to  the  inspiration  of  the  Spirit  of  the  Messiah  within  them 
(i.  11).  His  explanation  is  noteworthy.  In  Acts  ii.  33 
he  is  reported  as  ascribing  to  the  risen  Christ  the  gift  of 
the  Holy  Spirit.  But  the  Holy  Spirit  was  acknowledged 
by  all  as  the  real  source  of  prophecy,  so  that  the  same 
Christ  stands  behind  the  wonderful  forecasts  of  the  Old 
Testament,  only  that  there  He  is  the  Pre-existent.  There 
is  therefore  no  line  of  demarcation  between  the  spiritual 
insight  of  the  old  order  and  that  of  the  new.1  To  show 
the  high  import  attached  by  the  prophets  to  the  Messianic 
salvation,  the  apostle  refers  to  their  eagerness  concerning 
the  time  and  manner  in  which  the  Divine  promise  should 
be  fulfilled.  Probably  he  includes  in  his  thought  such 
apocalyptic  speculations  as  that  regarding  the  seventy 
weeks  in  Dan.  ix.  24-27.  That  passage,  in  speaking  of 
'  making  an  end  of  sin,'  '  making  reconciliation  for  iniquity,' 
'  bringing  in  everlasting  righteousness,'  as  characteristic 
of  the  Messianic  epoch,  presupposes,  it  may  be,  the  picture 
in  Isa.  liii.,  which  had  so  profoundly  impressed  the  mind 
of  Peter.  That  his  reflection  was  moving  in  the  realm  of 
apocalyptic  is  suggested  by  the  further  statement  that  the 
disclosure  of  the  coming  salvation  was  given  them,  not 
for  their  own  age,  but  for  that  of  the  consummation.  The 
idea  is  hinted  at  in  Heb.  xi.  40  (M.)  :  '  God  had  something 
better  in  store  for  us  ;  he  would  not  have  them  perfected 
apart  from  us.'  But  it  appears  more  clearly  in  Dan.  xii.  9  : 
'  Go  thy  way,  Daniel,  for  the  words  (i.e.  the  revelation  made 
to  him)  are  closed  up  and  sealed  till  the  time  of  the  end.' 
This  becomes  a  sort  of  principle  in  apocalyptic,  e.g.  1  Enoch 
i.  2  :  'I  understood  what  I  saw,  but  not  for  this  generation, 
but  for  the  remote  generations  which  are  to  come.'  2 

1  Granbery  quotes  to  the  same  effect  Ep.  of  Barnabas,  5  :  ol  Trpo<pr)Tai, 
Air'  avrov  '4xovre.%  ti)v  x^P'*',  «S  avrbv  eTpocpTjTevaav  (Outlines  of  N.  T. 
Christology,  p.  79). 

1  Quoted  by  Granbery,  op.  cit.,  p.  80. 


176  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  tt. 

2.  The  Death  of  Christ 

It  is  perhaps  scarcely  accurate  to  describe  Peter's  view 
of  the  death  of  Christ  as  a  conception  peculiar  to  his 
Epistle.  Indeed  he  presents  no  rounded-off  interpre- 
tation of  the  event  any  more  than  his  brother-apostle 
Paul.  But  the  combination  of  aspects  in  which  he  regards 
it,  while  revealing  many  affinities  with  Paulinism,  is,  in  the 
New  Testament,  peculiar  to  himself.  And  it  is  specially 
instructive  as  an  example  of  the  manner  in  which  ideas 
explanatory  of  so  central  a  fact  must  often  have  been 
grouped  in  the  apostolic  Church. 

His  utterances  on  the  death  of  Christ  have  been  prompted 
by  the  practical  necessities  of  the  communities  to  which  he 
writes.  We  must  not  therefore  press  them  unduly,  or  credit 
the  apostle  with  inferences  from  them  which  to  us  appear 
inevitable.  On  the  other  hand,  the  spontaneity  and 
artlessness  with  which  they  occur  suggest  their  dominance 
in  Peter's  thought,  and  the  brevity  of  expression  must  not 
be  allowed  to  conceal  the  wide  reaches  of  reflection  which 
lie  behind  it. 

Before  we  attempt  a  connected  survey  of  the  various 
statements,  it  may  be  of  value,  first,  to  note  their  intensely 
practical  bearing,  and  secondly,  to  give  a  brief  analysis  of 
their  background.  In  i.  18,  19,  the  cost  of  redemption, 
'  the  precious  blood  of  Christ,'  is  made  the  ground  of 
appeal  for  a  serious  and  reverent  life.  In  ii.  21-24,  the 
patient  suffering  of  Christ  for  righteousness'  sake,  in  order 
to  be  the  medium  of  healing  to  sin-sick  souls,  is  exhibited  as 
an  example  to  Christian  slaves,  who  have  to  endure  punish- 
ment for  doing  right.  Precisely  the  same  ground  is  taken 
in  iii.  18,  where  the  apostle  points  to  Him  who  died  for  sins, 
'  a  righteous  man  for  unrighteous,  that  he  might  bring  us 
to  God.'  The  typically  Pauline  conception  that  Christ's 
suffering  in  the  flesh  broke  the  power  of  sin,  serves  in  iv.  1  f. 
q  incentive  for  His  followers  to  live  in  complete  loyalty 
to  the  will  of  God.  The  only  other  significant  reference 
is  that  which,  in  the  address  of  the  Epistle  (i.  2),  describes 


ch.  I.]  THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER  177 

the  readers  as  '  chosen '  by  God, '  for  obedience  (i.e.  to  Eim)  ,l 
and  for  being  sprinkled  with  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ.' 
The  association  of  the  daily  behaviour  of  his  Gentile- 
Christian  readers  with  so  solemn  a  theme  reminds  us  that 
the  writer  could  take  for  granted  their  true  appreciation 
of  it. 

When  we  examine  the  crucial  passages  in  order  to  trace 
their  background,  we  are  at  first  confused  by  the  variety 
of  the  conceptions  represented.  This  variety  accounts  for 
the  impression  made  upon  some  scholars  that  Peter's 
'  ideas  about  Christ's  work  of  redemption  are  not  unified 
and  stable.'  2  They  are  not  unified  in  the  sense  of  forming 
a  systematic  doctrine,  but  there  is  no  real  discrepancy 
between  them.  As  in  the  case  of  Paul,  they  disclose  the 
many-sidedness  of  aspect  which  the  death  of  Christ 
exhibited  to  the  Christian  consciousness  of  the  Apostolic 
Age,  and  they  exemplify  the  richness  of  the  material 
supplied  by  the  Old  Testament  to  form  the  media  of  its 
interpretation.  For  it  is  in  the  Old  Testament  that  his 
interpretations  have  their  basis.  Reference  has  been 
already  made  to  the  author's  constant  dependence  on 
the  prophets,  more  especially  on  Isaiah.  His  chief  utter- 
ance on  the  meaning  of  the  cross,  ii.  21-25,  is  not  only 
steeped  in  the  thought  but  uses  the  actual  language  of 
Isa.  liii.  (esp.  w.  9,  12,  6),  with  a  probable  reminiscence  of 
Deut.  xxi.  23  in  its  mention  of  the  '  tree.'  The  same  passage 
seems  to  colour  his  ideas  when  he  speaks  of  '  the  righteous  ' 
dying  for  'the  unrighteous'  (iii.  18).  The  metaphor  is 
changed  in  i.  18  from  '  the  bearing  of  sins  '  to  that  of 
'  ransom.'  Here,  too,  the  language  seems  to  echo  Isa.  Iii.  3 
(LXX).3  Yet  it  may  be  legitimate  to  trace  back  his 
thought  to  the  great  deliverance  of  the  chosen  people  which 
had  been  wrought  by  blood  (Exod.  xii.  13,  etc.).  Indeed 
this  is  made  almost  certain  by  his  description  of  Christ  as 
'  an  unblemished  and  spotless  lamb.'     A  lamb  without 

1  Not  to  '  Jesus  Christ,'  as  Dr.  Mofiatt  translates.  The  significance  of 
the  text  will  appear  immediately. 

*  E.g.  Feine,  op.  cit.,  p.  570. 

•  ov  /icrd  dpyvpiov  \\rrp<j)d-q<re<Tde. 

M 


178  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES         [pt.  ii. 

blemish  was  appointed  for  the  passover-sacrifice.  No 
doubt  the  comparison  was  frequent  in  the  early  Church, 
for  Paul  also  speaks  of  Christ  as  '  our  paschal  lamb  '  which 
'  has  been  sacrificed.'  l  With  this  he  may  quite  well  have 
combined  the  recollection  of  the  lamb  in  Isa.  liii.  7,  the 
symbol  of  meek  endurance,  a  symbol  which  was  probably 
suggested  to  the  prophet  by  the  sacrificial  ritual.  There 
remain  the  remarkable  words  in  which  the  Christians  to 
whom  the  Epistle  is  sent  are  designated  as  '  chosen  .  .  . 
for  obedience  and  for  being  sprinkled  with  the  blood  of 
Jesus  Christ '  (i.  2).  Plainly  they  presuppose  Exod.  xxiv. 
7  f .  :  '  [Moses]  took  the  book  of  the  covenant  (rrjs  Biad^Kv^), 
and  read  in  the  audience  of  the  people  :  and  they  said, 
All  that  the  Lord  hath  spoken  will  we  do,  and  be  obedient. 
And  Moses  took  the  blood  and  sprinkled  it  on  the  people, 
and  said,  Behold  the  blood  of  the  covenant,  which  the  Lord 
hath  made  with  you  upon  all  these  conditions.'  This  is 
the  passage  which  colours  the  thought  of  Jesus  at  the 
institution  of  the  Holy  Supper,  and  its  influence  appears 
repeatedly  in  the  New  Testament,  notably  in  Heb.  ix.  18-20. 
These  Old  Testament  references  suggest  the  lines  on 
which  Peter's  view  of  Christ's  death  must  be  interpreted, 
and  they  warn  us  against  the  error  of  drawing  the  sharp 
distinctions  between  the  component  elements  of  that  view, 
into  which  some  expositors  have  fallen.2  Three  elements 
are  clearly  discernible.  Christ  is  regarded  as  (1)  '  bearing 
the  sins  of  men,'  that  is,  taking  upon  Himself  their  conse- 
quences; (2)  '  ransoming  men  from  their  sins';  (3)  cleansing 
or  covering  the  sins  of  men  that  they  might  enter  into 
covenant  with  God.  In  all  three  aspects  Christ's  voluntary 
death  is  central.  In  all  three  His  action  is  concerned  with 
the  removal  of  sin,  as  the  supreme  barrier  between  the 
human  soul  and  God.  In  each  case  the  idea  of  sacrifice 
is  implicit  if  not  explicit.  No  doubt  the  conception  of 
sacrifice  carries  with  it  the  suggestion  of  atonement.     And 

1    1   Cor.   v.   7.     Cf.   Heb.  ix.   14  :  fly  .    .    .   iavrbv  TrpoorjVfyKCv  fi/xwyuof  ry 
i).    . 

*  E.g.  B    Wcififl,  Dtr  j)ptrin\*ckt  Lehrbcgrifl,  p.  264. 


ch.  l]  THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER  179 

from  these  we  cannot  separate  the  thought  of  substitution, 
which  is  the  very  nerve  of  the  two  leading  passages,  ti.  24 
and  iii.  18.  Probably  the  attempts  made  by  the  apostle 
to  plumb  the  unfathomable  depths  of  the  Divine  self- 
sacrifice  represent  quite  faithfully  the  directions  followed 
by  the  spiritual  instinct  of  the  early  Church  when  con- 
fronted by  the  wonder  of  redemption.  Even  a  hurried 
glance  reveals  the  affinities  with  Paul.  A  more  penetrating 
study,  in  the  light  of  such  cognate  passages  as  Heb.  ix.  18 
fi\,  discloses  the  influence  on  Peter  of  the  covenant -idea, 
that  idea  which  the  Master  Himself  had,  in  a  moment 
of  peculiar  solemnity,  used  as  the  most  fitting  symbol  in 
which  to  enshrine  His  act  of  redeeming  love.  We  are 
inclined  to  think  that  this  conception  gained  its  prominence 
just  because  it  had  been,  so  to  speak,  consecrated  by  Jesus. 
It  may  be  noted  that  the  apostle  does  not  discuss  the 
question  :  How  did  the  redeeming  act  of  Christ  mediate 
salvation  to  men  ?  But,  as  Dr.  Denney  aptly  observes, 
'  to  say  substitution  is  to  say  something  which  involves  an 
immeasurable  obligation  to  Christ,  and  has  therefore  in  it  an 
incalculable  motive  power.'  1  Peter,  however,  lays  marked 
emphasis  on  the  purpose  of  redemption.  In  ii.  24  its  result 
for  those  who  welcome  it  is  '  dying  to  sin  and  living  to 
righteousness,'  a  moral  transformation.  In  iii.  18  its  aim 
is  described  as  '  to  bring  us  to  God.'  Here  we  again 
find  ourselves  in  the  realm  of  covenant -conceptions.  In 
Hebrews,  which  is  based  on  the  covenant-idea,  *  drawing 
near  to  God,'  which  is  only  a  different  way  of  stating  the 
same  fact  of  experience,  is  shown  to  be  the  supreme  ideal 
of  religion.  There  is  therefore  no  real  distinction  between 
the  two  affirmations  of  our  Epistle,  for  in  Christianity 
religion  and  morality  have  been  fused  in  an  indissoluble 
unity. 

3.  The  Descent  to  Hades 

In  speaking  of  Christ  as  having  died,  the  righteous  for 
the  unrighteous,  Peter  adds  the  noteworthy  statement  that 

•  Death  of  Christ,  p.  100. 


180  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  ii 

although  Christ  was  put  to  death  as  regards  His  flesh,  He 
was  made  alive  as  regards  His  spirit,  and  to  this  he  links 
the  strange  paragraph  concerning  Christ's  preaching  to 
the  souls  confined  in  Sheol.1  These  he  describes  as  the 
contemporaries  of  Noah,  who  had  on  account  of  their 
disobedience  been  swept  away  by  the  Flood.2  With  this 
passage  we  must  connect  iv.  6,  which  speaks  of  the  Gospel 
as  having  been  preached  to  the  dead  as  well  as  the  living, 
in  order  that  while  they  must  be  judged  in  human  fashion 
as  regards  the  flesh  (i.e.  their  earthly  life),  they  might 
'  nevertheless  be  enabled  to  live  after  the  pattern  of  God  '  3 
as  regards  the  spirit.  It  is  quite  unnecessary  to  trace 
Peter's  speculation  to  those  heathen  myths  which  tell  of 
the  visits  of  famous  heroes  to  Hades.4  It  was  probably 
due  to  two  lines  of  reflection  which  would  exercise  many 
minds  in  the  early  Church.  On  the  one  hand,  their 
thoughts  must  have  turned  to  the  multitude  who  had  died 
in  their  sins,  without  having  the  opportunity  of  being 
brought  face  to  face  with  the  salvation  offered  by  Christ. 
A  specially  notorious  group  of  sinners  were  those  belonging 
to  the  generation  of  the  Flood.5  On  the  other  hand,  the 
interval  between  Christ's  death  and  resurrection  would 
naturally  suggest  to  Jews  a  sojourn  in  the  world  of  the 
dead.  The  two  ideas  would  easily  be  brought  into  con- 
nection. Here  was  an  outlet  for  the  compassion  of  the 
Saviour.  He  preached  His  Gospel  to  these  captives  in 
their  prison-house.  For  Sheol  was  no  longer  regarded  as 
the  abode  of  pithless  shades.  It  was  partly  a  place  of 
punishment,  and  partly  an  intermediate  state.  Possibly 
also  such  passages  as  Isa.  lxi.  1  f.,  xlii.  7  lay  in  the  back- 
ground of  the  apostle's  thought,6  passages  which,  on  the 
authority  of  Christ  Himself,  were  applied  to  His  function 

1  iii.  19,  20.  It  La  difficult  to  take  seriously  Dr.  Rendol  Harris'  emenda- 
tion :  '  in  which  also  [if  $  Kal]  Enoch  [Eyu>x]  went  and  preached,'  «rfa«0 
he  assumes  that  the  name  has  slipped  out  because  an  early  scribe  dropped 
some  repeated  lotters.  The  emended  passive  interrupts  the  context, 
and  would  have  to  bo  regarded  as  an  interpolation. 

1  Gen.  vi.  12,  18.  a  So  Chase    H.  D.  B.,  iii.  p.  793. 

•  So  W.  Bauer,  op.  cit.,  p.  29. 

*  See  YViiidHch's  excur-iua,  Die  katholUchen  Briefe  (Lietzmann's  Hand- 
buch),  p.  69.  "  So  Chase,  op.  cit.,  p.  795. 


en,  i.l  THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER  181 

of  liberating  those  in  captivity.1  That  the  idea  embodied 
in  the  paragraph  had  taken  hold  of  Peter's  mind  is  clear 
from  the  wider  statement  of  iv.  6,  quoted  above.  There 
the  scope  is  enlarged  to  embrace  more  than  the  one  genera- 
tion, and  the  emphasis  is  laid,  not  on  the  Preacher,  but  on 
the  chance  given  to  those  whom  the  judgment  of  men  had 
already  condemned,  to  enter  on  the  higher  divine  life.  The 
theologumenon  is  a  natural  product  of  reflection.  It  was 
probably  widely  current,  as  many  traces  of  it  are  found  in 
second  century  literature,  which  do  not  seem  to  have  any 
immediate  connection  with  1  Peter.2 

1  E.g.  Luke  iv.  18-21. 

8  See  especially  the  remarkable  passage  in  Odes  of  Solomon,  xlii.  19-26. 


182  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES         [n.  n. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   HEBREWS 

A.  Prolegomena 

(a)  Special  CJiaracter  of  the  Epistle 

If  we  are  to  grasp  the  significance  of  this  important  post- 
Pauline  document,  it  will  be  necessary  to  give  a  very 
brief  sketch  of  the  situation  which  it  presupposes.1  The 
first  impression  which  it  makes  is  rather  that  of  an  elaborate 
discourse  than  of  a  letter.  Each  section  of  its  careful 
argument  culminates  in  a  direct  appeal  to  its  readers,2 
and  the  author  describes  his  communication  to  them  as  a 
'word  of  exhortation'  (xiii.  22).  There  is  something  to 
be  said  for  the  hypothesis  that  actual  homilies  of  the 
writer  have  been  incorporated  in  it.3  But  numerous 
indications  point  to  his  intimate  acquaintance  with  the 
community  to  which  he  writes,  and  suggest  that  some 
special  circumstances  in  their  history  prompted  the  letter. 
Hence  its  impersonality  lies  only  on  the  surface.  From 
ii.  3  we  can  gather  that  the  Gospel  had  been  preached  to 
the  readers  by  personal  followers  of  Jesus  :  from  v.  12 
that  they  had  reached  the  stage  when  maturity  might  be 
expected.  From  his  knowledge  of  them,  the  author  is  still 
able  to  be  hopeful  (vi.  9).  He  can  point  to  an  earlier  time 
of  struggle  from  which  they  had  come  forth  as  victors 

1  For  an  adequate  discussion,  see  Professor  Peake's  Critical  Introduction 
to  the  N.  T. 

■  E.g.  ii.  1-4,  vi.  1-2,  x.  19-25,  etc. 

•  Clemen   so   explains   chaps,    iii.-iv.,  Bruce,   chap.    xi.     The  theory  of 
F.  Dibi  liua  thut  Hebrew!  was  an  actual  sermon,  transformed  into  a 
by  alight  modification*  and  tbe  adduiun  of  chap,  xiii.,  is  an  exaggeration. 


ch.  n.J  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS  183 

(x.  32,  33).  They  must  brace  themselves  for  a  sharper 
conflict,  remembering  that  discipline  is  salutary  (xii.  4-11). 
The  obscure  allusions  of  chap.  xiii.  show  that  the  writer 
was  aware  of  dangerous  symptoms  of  error  which  were 
appearing  among  them,  and  he  urges  them  to  recall  the 
noble  example  set  before  them  by  leaders  of  their  com- 
munity now  passed  away.1 

In  the  same  context  hints  occur  which  throw  some  light 
on  the  nature  of  the  Church  addressed.  It  was  plainly  a 
community  within  a  community,  for  the  letter  is  not  sent 
to  the  chief  authority,  and  it  presupposes  a  wider  circle  of 
Christians  to  be  found  in  the  same  locality  as  the  recipients. 
The  latter  observation  is  corroborated  by  a  reference  to 
their  special  gatherings  for  worship.2  When  it  is  borne  in 
mind  that  most  Christian  communities  in  large  cities  must, 
owing  to  considerations  of  space,  have  been  made  up  of 
various  house-churches,8  meeting  in  little  groups,  while 
under  the  supervision  of  a  central  authority,  the  background 
of  the  Epistle  becomes  sufficiently  clear.4  Further,  the 
greeting  sent  by  the  writer  from  '  those  belonging  to  Italy  ' 
(xiii.  24)  certainly  suggests  that  the  community  is  some- 
where in  Italy,  and  no  centre  is  so  likely  as  Rome.  A  keen 
controversy  has  in  recent  years  been  waged  around  the 
question  :  Were  the  readers  Jewish  or  Gentile  Christians  ? 
The  title  of  the  Epistle,  *  To  the  Hebrews,'  which,  of  course, 
does  not  form  part  of  the  original  document,  but  goes  back 
to  an  early  date,  reveals  the  impression  made  by  its 
contents.  We  cannot  here  enter  into  the  details  of  the 
discussion.  But  one  or  two  considerations  may  be  adduced 
which  seem  to  us  decisive.  The  most  important  proof 
that  the  Epistle  is  written  to  Jewish  Christians  is  supplied 
by  the  entire  character  of  the  author's  apologetic.  Every 
point  he  makes  has  a  definite  bearing  on  the  Old  Testament. 
It  may,  no  doubt,  be  said  that  by  this  time  the  Old  Testa- 

1  xiii.  4,  9  f.  ;   xiii.  7, 

8  xiii.  24,  x.  25.  •  Cf.  Rom.  xvi.  5  ;    1  Cor.  xvi.  19. 

4  Professor  Nairne's  hypothesis  of  '  a  group  of  scholarly  men,'  an 
'  exclusive  circle  of  Hellenistic  thinkers  '  (The  Epistle  of  Priesthood,  p.  10), 
finds  no  adequate  basis  in  the  Epistle. 


184  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft.  ii. 

merit  had  become  the  Bible  of  Gentile  Christians  as  well 
as  of  Jewish.  But  for  Gentile  converts  it  had  become 
authoritative  through  the  medium  of  the  Christian  Church. 
Now,  as  Prof.  Peake  forcibly  says,  '  the  writer  never  dreams 
that  his  readers  will  reject  an  appeal  to  the  Old  Testament, 
though  he  fears  that  they  may  reject  Christ.'  *  Indeed,  his 
whole  argument  presupposes  a  most  minute  knowledge  of 
and  sympathy  with  the  Jewish  ritual,  as  embodied  in  the 
Pentateuch,  and  the  habit  of  using  the  Old  Testament  as 
the  criterion  of  religious  obligations.  In  any  case,  it  would 
be  an  extraordinary  method  of  demonstrating  the  finality 
of  the  Christian  faith  to  Gentile  converts,  to  prove  in  almost 
wearisome  detail  that  the  cultus  of  Judaism  has  at  every 
point  been  superseded  by  Christianity.  It  is  scarcely  too 
much  to  say,  with  Reuss  :  2  '  For  this  writer  there  are  no 
Gentiles.' 

The  problem  of  authorship  has  never  been  solved. 
The  names  of  Barnabas,  Apollos,  Aquila  (and  Priscilla), 
and  others  have  been  suggested.  Origen,  the  greatest 
Biblical  scholar  of  the  early  Church,  frankly  admits  :  '  As 
to  who  wrote  the  Epistle,  God  knows  the  truth.'  3  The 
question  does  not  seriously  affect  the  interpretation  of  its 
theology.  The  author  was  evidently  a  cultivated  Jewish- 
Christian  of  Hellenistic  origin,  educated,  as  we  shall  see, 
in  the  Alexandrian  school  of  Judaism,  and  possessing  also 
a  rhetorical  training.  He  seems  much  less  indebted  to 
Paul  than  to  the  common  Christianity  of  the  Church,  and 
he  must  have  occupied  an  influential  position  as  a  Christian 
teacher  in  the  Diaspora. 

It  is  difficult  to  fix  the  approximate  date  of  the  Epistle. 
It  was  certainly  used  by  Clement  of  Rome  (last  decade  of 
first  century).  Some  scholars  have  found  in  x.  32  ff.  a 
reference  to  the  Neronic  persecution.  But  this  is  doubtful, 
although  by  no  means  impossible.  One  thing  seems  fairly 
plain.     The  Epistle  was  written  at  a  time  when  the  con- 

1  Hebrews  (Century  Bible),  p.  16. 

•  Quoted  by  Dods  E.  0.  T.,  iv.  p.  231. 

"  In  Euseb.,  H.  E.,  vi.  26. 


ch.  n.]  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS  185 

troversy  as  to  the  Law  was  no  longer  a  burning  question  as 
between  Jewish  and  Gentile  Christians.  That  suggests  a 
date  later  than  a.d.  64,  and  as  the  references  to  ritual  by 
no  means  necessarily  presuppose  that  the  Temple  was 
still  standing,  it  may  be  placed  as  late  as  81  or  85,  in  the 
period  when  persecution  arose  under  the  rule  of  Domitian. 

(b)  The  Perils  of  the  Community 

There  is  general  agreement  as  to  the  spiritual  condition 
of  this  community,  which  has  called  forth  the  writer's 
admonitions.  Their  grasp  of  the  Christian  hope  was 
slackening  (iii.  6).  Their  faith  was  wavering  (iii.  12,  iv. 
1,  11).  They  were  in  danger  of  falling  away  from  Christ 
in  listlessness  and  apathy  (vi.  6,  12).  What  they  need  is 
to  have  '  an  assured  faith  '  (x.  22),  and  to  hold  out  patiently 
even  in  the  midst  of  trials  (x.  35,  36).  They  must  keep 
their  eyes  fixed  on  Jesus,  their  great  Leader  in  the  life  of 
faith,  '  who,  for  the  joy  set  before  him,  endured  the  cross, 
despising  the  shame '  (xii.  2).  It  is  an  awful  thing  to 
'  trample  under  foot  the  Son  of  God/  to  '  count  the  blood 
of  the  covenant  a  common  thing,'  to  '  insult  the  spirit  of 
grace'  (x.  29).  Hence,  the  whole  exhortation  may  be 
summed  up  in  the  words  of  iv.  14  :  '  Let  us  hold  fast  our 
(Christian)  confession.' 

If,  as  we  have  endeavoured  to  show,  the  readers  were 
converts  from  Judaism,  it  is  easy  to  recognise  the  kind  of 
pressure  which  was  loosening  their  hold  of  Christianity. 
The  Epistle  itself  contains  definite  references  to  trials 
which  had  assailed  them  in  the  past,  and  fresh  trials 
belonging  to  the  present.1  And  the  same  fact  is  indirectly 
suggested  by  the  constant  stress  which  the  author  lays  on 
the  sufferings  and  consequent  sympathy  of  Jesus  Christ, 
their  great  High  Priest.2  It  is  just  possible  that  State 
persecutions  formed  part  of  their  tribulation.  But  more 
probably  the  hatred  of  their  fellow-countrymen  pursued 

>  E.g.  x.  36;  xii.  3-11. 

»  E.g.  iu  10,  11,  14,  17,  18;   iv.  15,  16;   v.  1.  1. 


186  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  n. 

thein  both  in  public  and  private  life,  for  we  know  how 
bitter  was  the  attitude  of  Jews  to  Jewish  Christians 
throughout  the  Roman  Empire.  But  the  tone  of  the 
exhortations  in  the  Epistle  points  to  something  deeper, 
their  own  religious  insecurity. 

Their  early  enthusiasm  had  given  place  to  spiritual 
lethargy.  The  Parousia,  to  which  they  had  looked  forward, 
was  being  delayed.  Perhaps  they  began  to  miss  in  the 
new  faith  the  imposing  system  of  rites  and  ceremonies  in 
which  they  had  been  brought  up.  Perhaps  they  were 
confused  as  to  the  central  doctrine  of  the  apostolic  Church, 
the  significance  of  the  death  of  Christ.1  In  any  case,  as 
Dods  has  well  observed,  even  to  the  Christian  Jew,  in  this 
transition  period,  '  Christ  must  have  created  as  many 
problems  as  He  solved.' 2 

But  the  appeals  which  have  been  cited  suggest  a  more 
definite  peril  than  mere  religious  slackness.  They  are  in 
danger  of  giving  up  their  Christian  confession,  and  '  cruci- 
fying for  themselves  afresh  the  Son  of  God  and  putting  him 
to  an  open  shame '  (vi.  6).  How  much  does  this  mean  ? 
The  Epistle  itself  sheds  a  certain  light  on  the  situation  in 
adii.  13,  where  the  readers  are  exhorted  to  go  forth  to 
Jesus,  '  who  suffered  outside  the  gates  '  of  Jerusalem  as 
a  defiling  criminal,  leaving  the  camp  and  bearing  His 
reproach.  The  plain  significance  of  this  metaphorical 
language  is  an  appeal  to  them  to  break  once  for  all  with 
Judaism.3  Keeping  this  admonition  in  view,  and  observing 
that  the  whole  aim  of  the  author's  elaborate  argument 
is  to  show  the  superiority  of  Christianity  to  Judaism  by 
comparing  the  effectiveness  of  Christ's  redemptive  activity 
with  the  failure  of  the  most  important  rites  of  the  Law  to 
bring  men  truly  near  to  God,  we  are  surely  justified  in 
believing  that  the  readers  were  being  tempted  to  relapse 

1  See  A.  B.  Davidson,  Hebrew*,  p.  20. 

■  Op.  cit.,  p.  238. 

•  So  the  great  majority  of  interpreters  :  see  especially  Zahn,  op.  cit., 
to.  p.  130.  Even  Holtzmaun,  who  regards  the  Epistle  as  addressed  to 
Gentile  Christiana,  frankly  says:  'The  passage  [xiii.  13]  is  incontestable 
evidence  rhat  we  have  here  to  do  with  a  break  with  Judaism  '  (N.  T. 
TiidA*.  ii.  p.  324,  n.  6). 


ch.  ii.]  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS  187 

into  their  old  religion.  Various  expressions  in  the  Epistle, 
it  is  true,  such  as  '  departing  from  the  living  God  '  (iii.  12), 
are  quoted  to  show  that  the  peril  is  apostasy  from  all 
religion.  But,  as  Dods  cogently  remarks,  '  The  very  point 
of  the  whole  Epistle  is  that  an  abandonment  of  Christianity 
is  an  abandonment  of  God  :  that  in  it  God  has  finally 
spoken.'  *  In  the  light  of  our  hypothesis  we  can  discern 
the  full  force  of  the  author's  language,  when  he  warns  them 
against  '  crucifying  the  Son  of  God  afresh,  and  putting  him 
to  an  open  shame.'  This  can  only  mean  to  identify  them- 
selves with  the  orthodox  Jewish  standpoint,  which  led  to 
the  crucifixion.2  Our  discussion  of  the  theology  of  the 
Epistle  will  corroborate  the  above  interpretation  at 
numerous  points. 

(c)  Relation  of  the  Author  to  Paultnism 

The  purpose  of  the  writer,  as  has  been  indicated,  is  to 
demonstrate  to  his  readers  that  Christianity  is  the  religion 
of  '  the  better  hope  by  which  we  draw  near  to  God '  (vii.  19). 
His  method,  which  is  determined  by  the  fact  that  his 
readers  are  converts  from  Judaism  and  that  they  are  being 
tempted  to  return  to  their  former  faith,  chiefly  consists  in 
an  elaborate  comparison  of  the  various  arrangements 
provided  by  Old  Testament  religion  for  bringing  men  into 
that  fellowship  with  God  which  is  the  true  end  of  religion, 
with  those  made  available  through  Christ.  Before  he 
enters  on  his  main  contrast,  however,  he  shows  the  limita- 
tions which  belonged  to  the  origins  of  the  Old  Testament 
revelation. 

In  order  to  appreciate  the  standpoint  from  which  he 
approaches  his  task  and  the  perspective  in  which  we  must 
view  his  ideas,  let  us  attempt  to  estimate,  first,  his  relation 
to  Paul,  and,  secondly,  his  affinities  with  Alexandrian 
Judaism. 

1  Op.  cit.,  p.  232. 

2  Dr.  Moffatt,  who  argues  against  the  hypothesis  defended  in  the  text, 
feels  obliged  to  say  :  '  A  Jewish  danger  may  be  admitted  as  a  subordinate 
factor  in  the  sit  uation  of  the  Christians  to  whom  Hebrews  is  addressed  ' 
(op.  cit.,  p.  450). 


188  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  n. 

From  the  fourth  century  downwards,  beginning  with  the 
Eastern  Church,  Hebrews  was  in  general  attributed  to  Paul. 
That  was  mainly  the  result  of  a  hasty  impression,  which 
recognised  the  many  features  common  to  both,  such  as  the 
emphasis  laid  on  Christ's  pre-existence,  His  redemptive 
death,  and  His  heavenly  exaltation  :  the  conception  of 
Jewish  religion  as  having  merely  temporary  validity  : 
salvation  as  a  fact  of  present  experience  and  yet  the  object 
of  ardent  hopes  :  the  prominent  place  assigned  to  faith. 
It  is  needless  to  point  out  that  most  of  these  ideas  belonged 
to  the  regular  content  of  the  Church's  belief,  and  could  in 
no  sense  be  regarded  as  the  special  property  of  Paul.  Yet 
even  in  regard  to  them,  more  careful  examination  discloses 
the  marked  divergence  of  the  respective  authors'  points 
of  view. 

We  are  doubtful  whether  at  any  point  the  formulation 
of  religious  thought  in  Hebrews  can  be  attributed  to  the 
influence  of  Paul.1  Traces,  perhaps,  might  be  detected 
in  the  idea  of  the  provisional  character  of  Judaism.  But 
who  would  venture  to  deny  that,  in  some  form  or  other,  this 
conception  had  taken  hold  of  the  mind  of  the  Church 
towards  the  end  of  the  first  century  ?  Let  us  briefly  test 
the  relation  of  Hebrews  to  Paul  at  three  crucial  points,  a 
process  which  will  serve  to  illumine  the  general  outlook  of 
the  author.  And  first,  with  reference  to  the  Law,  which 
for  both  writers  usually  means  the  normative  religious 
system  of  the  Old  Testament.  We  have  already  observed 
that  for  Paul  the  Law  denoted  primarily  a  fixed  scheme  of 
commands  and  prohibitions.  Its  purpose  was  to  produce 
righteousness,  that  is,  a  right  relation  to  God.  But  that 
purpose  was  foiled  by  the  opposition  of  human  sin,  and  so, 
with  its  austere  demand,  the  Law  stood  over  against  the 
sinner  as  a  tyrannical  task-master,  intensifying  his  con- 
sciousness of  sin  but  unable  to  remove  its  burden.  Thus 
the  Law  actually  turned  out  to  be  a  barrier  against  fellow- 

1  Dr.  H.  MacNoill,  in  his  admirable  study.  The  Christology  of  the  Epistle 
*;>  the  Hebrews,  allows  a  quite  subordinate  inlluonco  to  Pauliniem  :  e.g. 
p.  148.  Jt  leemi  difficult  to  distinguish  between  thi>  end  the  more  or 
less  g«-in  riil  Btandpoinl  of  the  apostolic  Ohurch. 


ch.  ii.]  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS  189 

ship  with  God.  With  it  Paul  contrasts  the  Gospel  as  an 
order  of  grace,  which  through  Christ  Jesus,  who  is  to 
believers  the  end  of  the  Law,  breaks  down  all  barriers  and 
makes  sinful  men  sure  of  the  Divine  love.  Hebrews 
approaches  Jewish  legalism  along  entirely  different  lines. 
It  views  the  old  system  from  the  standpoint  of  the  covenant- 
ritual,  a  ritual  which  has  its  centre  in  atoning  sacrifices. 
But  these  sacrifices,  as  merely  animal,  could  not  truly  set 
the  conscience  free  from  its  burden  of  guilt,  and  thus 
enable  the  worshippers  fearlessly  to  draw  near  to  God. 
They  were  to  be  regarded  as  types  or  dim  outlines  of  the 
effective  sacrifice  to  be  offered  at  the  end  of  the  age  by  Christ. 
In  both  writers,  the  bearing  of  the  death  of  Christ  upon 
the  salvation  of  men  is  central,  and  its  final  issue,  which 
Paul  calls  the  '  justifying  '  of  believers,  is  virtually  identical 
with  what  our  author  describes  as  their  '  perfecting.'  But 
the  presuppositions  of  this  redemptive  process  are  alto- 
gether different.  Paul,  who  usually  sets  forth  his  inter- 
pretation of  the  death  of  Christ  by  means  of  juridical 
categories,  speaks  of  ransom  from  the  curse  of  the  law, 
condemnation  of  sin  in  the  flesh,  reconciliation  to  God 
through  the  death  of  His  Son.  The  idea  of  Christ  as  the 
substitute  for  sinners  is  paramount.  The  conception  of 
sacrifice  is  of  course  present,  but  it  forms  only  one  element 
in  Paul's  construction.  The  author  of  Hebrews  starts 
from  another  angle  of  vision.  The  ritual  of  the  Day  of 
Atonement  determines  the  direction  of  his  thought. 
Christ's  death  is  the  inaugural  sacrifice  of  the  New  Covenant. 
He  is  both  victim  and  sacrificing  priest.  According  to  the 
old  ceremonial,  only  those  purified  by  the  blood  of  the 
covenant -sacrifice  had  the  right  of  access  into  the  Divine 
presence,  an  access  symbolised  by  the  entrance  of  the 
high-priest,  with  the  blood  of  the  sacrifice,  into  the  Holy 
of  Holies,  where  he  made  the  annual  offering  of  atonement 
for  the  sins  of  the  community.  Christ  has  entered  the 
heavenly  sanctuary  once  for  all  as  the  completely  sufficient 
offering.  Those  whose  hearts,  through  His  sacrifice,  have 
been  '  cleansed  from  an  evil  conscience,'  can  draw  near  to 


100  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft.  n. 

God  with  courage  and  confidence,  assured  that  their  fellow- 
ship with  Him  is  being  maintained.  Hence,  as  Pfleiderer 
points  out,  in  Hebrews  the  '  subjective  moral  action  '  of 
Christ  to  some  extent  overshadows  the  '  objective  fact '  of 
atonement  so  prominent  in  Paul.1 

Once  more.  For  Paul,  faith  means  that  surrender  of  the 
whole  being  to  the  once  crucified  and  now  risen  Christ 
which  keeps  us  in  union  with  Him  and  makes  us  sharers  in 
all  His  experiences.  In  Hebrews  the  profound  conception  of 
union  with  Christ  is  lacking.  Faith  chiefly  implies  con- 
fidence in  the  reality  of  the  heavenly  world,  and  the  assur- 
ance of  that  glorious  heritage  to  which  God  has  pledged 
Himself.  Since  all  these  future  blessings  are  guaranteed 
in  Christianity,  faith  is  really  synonymous  with  loyalty 
to  the  Christian  position. 

(d)  Relation  to  Alexandrian  Judaism 

The  real  background  of  the  thought  of  our  Epistle  appears 
in  the  peculiar  phase  of  Judaism  associated  with  Alexandria, 
and  embodied  especially  in  the  writings  of  Philo.  Plato 
(e.g.  Timaus,  28  C,  29  B)2  had  spoken  of  the  Creator  of  the 
world  as  designing  and  carrying  out  His  work  according 
to  an  unchangeable  and  eternal  'pattern'  (-rrapaSeiyfia). 
Of  this  original  the  world  is  but  a  'copy'  (ctVwv).  This 
conception  laid  hold  of  Philo's  mind  and  became  a  funda- 
mental element  in  his  view  of  God  and  the  world.  It  is 
forcibly  expressed  in  his  treatise  De  Opificio  Mundi  (CW), 
16  :  '  God,  in  virtue  of  His  divinity,  knew  beforehand  that 
a  fair  copy  (/A/'/^tta)  could  never  come  into  being  apart 
from  a  fair  pattern  (TrapdSciyfxa),  and  that  none  of  the 
objects  perceivable  by  the  senses  could  be  flawless  which 
was  not  modelled  after  an  archetype  and  a  spiritual 
idea  (apxtrvTrov  k<l)  loi/rrjv  iScai),  and  thus  when  He  pre- 
pared to  create  this  visible  world.  He  shaped  beforehand 
the  ideal  (vorrrov)  world,  in  order  to  constitute  the  corporeal 

»  Paulini»m  (K.  Tr.),  ".  p.  64. 

*  Cf.  Republic,  5lJ2  B  :  iv  ovpavip  Iffws  napd8(iy/j.a  dvaKciTai. 


ch.  n.]  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS  191 

after  an  incorporeal  and  Godlike  pattern.'  Traces  of  the 
same  notion  are  found  in  another  Jewish  book,  with  marked 
Alexandrian  affinities,  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon,  e.g.  ix.  S  : 
1  Thou  gavest  command  to  build  a  temple  in  thy  holy 
mountain,  and  in  the  city  of  thy  habitation  an  altar,  a 
copy  (fitfxrjfia)  of  the  holy  tabernacle  (<r#cqn}s),  which  thou 
didst  prepare  beforehand  from  the  beginning.'  The 
closing  words  indicate  that  '  the  holy  tabernacle  '  is  not 
the  historical  edifice  (although  that  also  may  be  before  the 
writer's  mind),  but  the  sanctuary  of  the  invisible  and  truly 
real  world.  It  is  noteworthy  that  this  very  language 
occurs  in  Heb.  viii.  2,  where  Christ,  as  the  High  Priest, 
who  has  entered  the  heavenly  sphere,  is  described  as 
1  officiating  in  the  sanctuary,  the  real  tabernacle  (rr}*  aKijvijs 
t^s  dkyBivrjs)  which  the  Lord  erected,  not  man.'  And 
in  the  same  context  (ver.  5)  the  priests  of  the  Mosaic  order 
are  said  to  '  serve  a  mere  pattern  (vn-ooVy/xaTi)1  and 
shadow  (<tki<£)  of  the  heavenly,  as  Moses  was  instructed 
when  he  was  about  to  fashion  the  tabernacle  :  See,  said 
God,  that  thou  makest  everything  according  to  the  model 
(tvitov)  shown  thee  on  the  mountain.2  In  chap.  ix.  11 
there  is  a  further  reference  to  '  the  greater  and  more  perfect 
tabernacle,  not  made  with  hands,  that  is,  not  belonging 
to  the  present  creation.' 

The  same  type  of  phraseology  occurs  throughout.  In 
xi.  3,  the  visible  world  (to  /3ken-6fx€i>ov)  is  said  to  have 
come  into  being  by  means  of  the  Divine  word, '  independently 
of  the  phenomenal'  (pr)  e*  <f>aivopevu)v)  :3  in  xii.  27,  the 
'  created  '  world,  as  '  shaken,'  passes  away  :  the  '  un- 
shaken '  kingdom  endures.  Numerous  additional  examples 
might  be  quoted,  but  enough  has  been  said  to  show  that 
this  fundamental  antithesis  between  the  visible  and  the 
invisible,  the  earthly  and  the  heavenly,  the  temporal  and  the 

1  Phrynichus  advises  the  use  of  Trap6.8ei.yfia  as  more  correct  than 
i/Tddeiy/xa  (see  Rutherford,  New  Phrynichus,  p.  62). 

1  Exod.  xxv.  40.  The  writer  finds  this  passage  in  admirable  harmony 
with  his  general  standpoint. 

*  Dr.  Moffatt's  phrase,  '  out  of  the  invisible,'  scarcely  brings  out  the 
full  force  of  the  words. 


192  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft.  n. 

eternal,  the  world  of  copies  and  the  world  of  the  ideal,  which 
is  the  truly  real,  is  normative  for  the  writer  of  Hebrews. 

But  he  uses  the  Philonic  scheme  as  an  instrument  of 
Christian  apologetic.  The  visible  and  transient  order  is, 
for  religion,  exemplified  in  the  legal  ritual  of  Judaism  and 
the  covenant  which  that  ritual  is  supposed  to  ratify  and 
maintain.  Ths  invisible  iealm  is  that  to  which  those  who 
have  accepted  the  revelation  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ,  the 
'  better '  covenant,  are  alread}^  linked  by  a  hope  resting 
on  the  Divine  promises,  which  is  '  as  an  anchor  of  the  soul 
secure  and  steadfast,'  cast  already  from  earth  into  heaven 
(vi.  18,  19).  Although  still  involved  in  an  imperfect 
order,  they  have  already  '  tasted  of  the  powers  of  the  world 
to  come '  (vi.  5).  In  the  great  series  of  contrasts  by  which 
he  works  out  his  argument  in  favour  of  the  finality  of  the 
Christian  religion,  which  he  pictures  as  '  the  new  covenant ' 
— Christ  and  the  angels,  Christ  and  Moses,  Christ  and  the 
Aaronic  priesthood  in  all  the  details  of  its  service — his 
object  is  to  prove  that  in  each  instance  Christ  has  achieved 
the  heavenly  or  spiritual  realisation  of  those  aims  which 
the  legal  institutions  of  the  Old  Testament  attempted  to 
reach  on  earthlv  or  physical  lines.  As  Feine  has  aptly 
pointed  out,  Philo  endeavoured  to  disclose  the  relation  of 
the  Old  Testament  revelation  to  the  ideal  world  by  alle- 
gorising its  contents.  He  had  no  other  reality  to  set  over 
against  it.1  Hebrews  has  the  revelation  of  Christ,  who  has 
actually  entered  the  world  of  heavenly  reality  as  the 
Forerunner  and  High  Priest  of  His  people.  Of  this  revela- 
tion, which  is  a  genuine  facsimile  of  the  unseen,  those 
ordinances  by  which  the  people  of  God  sought  to  draw 
near  to  Him  in  the  Levitical  ritual  were  but  a  dim  outline 

(o-/cia,  diTLTWa). 

We  must  relate  this  fundamental  presupposition  of  the 
contrast  between  the  copy  and  the  pattern,  the  physical 
symbols  and  the  spiritual  reality  which  they  represent,  to 
every  stage  of  our  investigation  of  the  leading  ideas  of  the 
Epistle.     Meanwhile,  various  further  traoes  of  Alexandrian 

'  N.  T.  Theologie-,  p.  651. 


ch.  u.J  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS  193 

influence  ought  to  be  noted.  Our  author  is  true  to  his 
training  in  his  employment  of  the  allegorical  method  of 
exegesis  so  characteristic  of  Philo.  This  is  typically 
exemplified  in  his  use  of  the  Old  Testament  figure  of 
Melchizedek,  described  as  king  of  Salem  in  Gen.  xiv.  18-20, 
who  met  Abraham  as  he  returned  from  his  victory  over 
the  kings  of  the  East,  gave  him  his  blessing,  and  as  a  priest- 
king  received  tithes  from  him.  The  source  from  which  he 
derives  his  illustration  is  Ps.  ex.  4,  a  passage  interpreted 
Messianically  both  in  Judaism  and  in  the  early  Church. 
For  the  purposes  of  his  argument  the  writer  emphasises  the 
etymology  of  Melchizedek's  name,  '  king  of  righteousness,'  l 
and  of  the  name  of  his  kingdom,  '  peace,'  to  bring  out 
their  resemblance  to  Messianic  ideals.  And  he  dwells  on 
the  fact  that  no  genealogy  of  Melchizedek  is  mentioned, 
and  no  history,  in  order  to  contrast  him  with  the  Aaronic 
priests,  who  succeed  to  office  because  of  their  pedigree 
and  pass  away  in  ever-changing  succession,  and  to  accen- 
tuate the  parallel  with  Christ,  who  becomes  priest  because 
of  His  inherent  worth,  and  remains  a  priest  for  ever.  Philo, 
too,  has  used  the  figure  of  Melchizedek  for  purposes  of 
allegory,  but  curiously  enough  he  seems  to  make  no  reference 
to  Ps.  ex.  4.  Indeed,  his  application  of  the  significance 
of  this  Old  Testament  passage  follows,  as  usual,  another 
direction  than  that  in  Hebrews.  Like  our  author,  he  calls 
attention  to  the  etymology  of  '  Melchizedek  '  and  '  Salem,' 
but  he  identifies  him  not  with  any  Messianic  ideal  but 
with  the  Logos,  '  as  the  common  reason  of  mankind,  that 
higher  principle  of  personality  by  which  we  are  brought 
into  contact  with  Divine  thoughts  and  precepts.'  2 

Of  more  essential  importance  for  the  theology  of  our 
Epistle  is  the  relation  of  the  author's  conception  of  Christ 
to    Philo's    Logos-doctrine.    Here    we    must    beware    of 


1  His  derivation  is  not  scientifically  accurate  :  the  name  probably  means, 
'  my  king  is  Sidiq  *  (a  Phoenician  deity). 

2  Drummond,  Philo,  ii.  p.  227.  The  meaning  of  the  description  of  him 
in  Genesis  as  '  a  priest  of  the  most  high  God  '  is  that  '  Reason  is  a  priest, 
having  the  Self-existent  as  his  portion,  and  entertaining  high  and  sublime 
and  magnificent  thoughts  about  him  '  {Leg.  Alleg.,  iii.  82). 


194  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  n. 

identifying  too  exclusively  with  Alexandrian  ideas  that 
strain  in  New  Testament  thought  which  sets  forth  the 
cosmic  significance  of  Christ.  And  it  has  also  to  be 
observed  that  the  central  element  in  the  Christology  of 
Hebrews,  the  high -priesthood,  does  not  correspond  to 
anything  Philonic.1  For  when  Philo  speaks  of  God's 
'  first-born  divine  Logos '  as  high  priest  (apxiepcvs),  the 
temple  in  which  he  ministers  is  the  ordered  universe,  and 
he  evidently  represents  the  Reason  which  gives  its  meaning 
to  the  entire  system  of  things.2  But  there  can  be  little 
doubt  that  our  author  has  been  influenced  by  Alexandrian 
thought  and  terminology  in  setting  forth  the  unique  position 
of  Christ.  Especially  noteworthy  is  the  description  in  the 
opening  paragraph  of  Chap.  I.  Strangely  enough,  he  does 
not  make  use  of  the  term  '  Logos  '  :  his  highest  conception 
of  the  essential  nature  of  Christ  is  expressed  in  the  title, 
'  Son  of  God,'  which  is  found  repeatedly  in  Philo  as  the 
equivalent  of  the  Logos.3  Here,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
Melchizedek-story,  Philo  moves  in  a  realm  of  abstractions. 
For  him  '  Son '  of  God  has  no  suggestion  of  personality.4 
The  writer  of  Hebrews,  on  the  other  hand,  is  above  all  else 
impressed  by  the  real  human  life  of  Jesus  Christ.  Yet  he 
does  not  hesitate  to  apply  to  Him  the  very  language  employed 
by  Philo.  Thus,  in  i.  2  he  speaks  of  Him  as  God's  instrument 
in  creation  :  just  as  Philo  says  of  the  Logos  that,  in  creating 
the  world,  God  used  him  as  His  instrument  ( jpydvix>).5  He 
describes  the  pre-existent  Christ  (i.  3)  as  the  '  effulgence ' 
(dwavyacrfxa)  of  God's  glory,  and  the  '  impress  '  or  '  stamp  ' 
(^apaKTrjfi)  of  His  essence  :  as  Philo  calls  the  Logos  the 
impress  (xapanrrip)  of  the  seal  of  God  (De  Plantat.  18),  and 

1  Professor  MacNeill  admits  that  the  conception  of  Christ's  hijrh- 
priesthood  in  Hebrews  is  'essentially  that  of  the  O.T.,'  but  he  adds  thnt 
it  '  is  touched  with  the  more  reGned,  mystical,  abstract  conception  of 
J'hilo  '  (op.  cit.t  p.  107).  Surely  it  is  anything  but  abstract.  It  mny 
possibly  be  termed  '  mystical,'  but  the  mysticism  is  that  of  Christian 
experience,  not  of  Judaising  Platonism. 

*  De  Somniis,  i.  215. 

8  E.g.,  De  Confus.  Ling.,  63  :  toxitov  .   .   .  TrpeafJvTaTOv  viby  6  tCjv  6\wy 
avtrriXe  TraTrj/i,  bv  (r^pwOi  irpcvrdyouov  wi>6pia.cre. 
'  See  Druminond,  op.  cit.,  ii.  pp.  185,  186. 

•  Leg.  Alleg.,  iii.  96. 


ch.  ii.]  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS  195 

as  in  the  Alexandrian  Wisdom  of  Solomon  the  heavenly 
Wisdom  is  depicted  as  the  '  effluence '  (aTroppoia)  of  God's 
omnipotent  glory  and  the  '  effulgence '  (aTravyacr/xa)  of 
everlasting  light  (vii.  25,  26).  A  comparison  may  also  be 
drawn  between  Christ  as  Mediator  of  salvation  and  the 
Logos  as  representing  for  Philo  a  channel  of  mediation 
between  God  and  man.  But  in  the  remarkable  passage 
which  describes  the  Logos  as  '  between  the  extremes  .  .  . 
beside  Him  who  planted  as  a  pledge  that  what  has  come 
into  being  .  .  .  shall  not  depart  .  .  .  and  beside  that 
which  has  grown  for  a  firm  ground  of  hope  that  the  gracious 
God  will  never  ignore  his  own  work,'  l  it  is  plain  once  more 
that  Philo  is,  thinking  of  a  mental  force  or  energy  and  not 
of  personalised  spirit. 

B.  Fundamental  Conceptions  of  the  Epistle 
(a)  The  New  Covenant 
1.  The  New  Covenant  and  the  Old 

Over  against  the  background  of  the  two  sharply  con- 
trasted world -orders,  the  visible  and  transient,  and  the 
invisible  and  eternal,  our  author  sets  his  central  con- 
ception of  religion  as  a  covenant  between  God  and  men. 
To  understand  his  position,  we  must  glance  at  the  signi- 
ficance of  this  idea  for  the  Old  Testament.  Throughout 
the  religious  history  of  Israel,  the  covenant -conception  is 
normative  as  expressing  the  fact  that  God  had  graciously 
drawn  near  to  them  as  His  people,  and  that  they  recognised 
Him  as  their  God.  Such  recognition  was  manifested  in 
worship  and  service.  The  essential  aim  of  their  worship 
was  access  to  God's  presence,  fellowship  with  Him  as  a 
community.  But,  in  order  to  attain  this  relationship,  the 
worship  must  be  worthy  of  its  object.  The  great  hindrance 
was  the  defilement  of  sin.  For  the  removal  of  this  defile- 
ment the  sacrificial  system  was  instituted.  It  must  be 
noted  that  the  system  only  applied  to  those  within  the 

1  Quia  Rer.  Div.  Her.,  206. 


196  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  ii. 

covenant.  If  unbelief  in  the  living  God  became  mani- 
fest, the  relationship  was  thereby  invalidated.  Otherwise, 
there  was  the  possibility  of  atonement  for  transgressions 
both  ritual  and  ethical.  For  the  covenant  could  only  be 
maintained  through  God's  forgiveness  of  the  sins  of  the 
people.  Atonement  was  of  course  made  through  sacrifice, 
and  in  the  offering  of  sacrifices  the  priest  was  both  the 
minister  and  the  representative  of  the  people.  The  climax 
of  the  sacrificial  ritual  was  to  be  found  in  the  great  vicarious 
action  of  the  high  priest,  once  a  year,  on  the  Day  of 
Atonement,  when,  after  slaying  the  victim,  he  carried  its 
blood  into  the  Holy  of  Holies  and  sprinkled  it  on  or  before 
the  mercy -seat  as  an  atonement  for  the  sin  of  the  covenant- 
people,  that  God  might  continue  His  gracious  relation  of 
fellowship  with  them.1 

We  cannot  here  dwell  on  the  representation  in  the  Old 
Testament  of  historical  covenants  made  at  special  epochs. 
But  attention  must  be  called  to  that  which  inaugurates  the 
national  history  as  described  in  Exod.  xxiv.  4-8. 2  because 
our  author,  like  other  New  Testament  writers,  assigns  to  it 
a  special  importance.  After  receiving  the  precepts  enumer- 
ated in  chaps,  xx.-xxiii.,  Moses  is  represented  as  communi 
eating  them  to  the  people,  who  answered  with  one  voice  : 
'  All  the  words  which  the  Lord  hath  said  will  we  do.' 
Thereupon  he  built  an  altar  and  caused  sacrifices  to  be 
offered.  Finally  he  '  took  half  of  the  blood,  and  put  it  in 
basons  :  and  half  of  the  blood  he  sprinkled  on  the  altar. 
And  he  took  the  book  of  the  covenant,  and  read  in  the 
audience  of  the  people  :  and  they  said,  All  that  the  Lord 
hath  said  will  we  do,  and  be  obedient.  And  Moses  took  the 
blood  and  sprinkled  it  on  the  people,  and  said  :  Behold  the 
blood  of  the  covenant,  which  the  Lord  hath  made  with  you 
upon  all  these  words.'  It  seems  probable  that  here  the 
ritual  primarily  symbolises  the  communion  of  men  with 
God  through  the  blood  of  the  sacrificial  victim  which  is  its 
life.     But,  as  Robertson  Smith  has  shown  (Religion  of  the 

1  See  Lev.  xvi.  15  ff. 

•  The  section  belongs  to  the  Elohistic  document. 


ch.  ii.]  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS  197 

Semites,  p  302),  the  idea  of  sacramental  communion  in 
early  Semitic  religion  seems  always  to  have  carried  with  it, 
in  germ  at  least,  the  notion  of  atonement.  Accordingly, 
as  in  the  ceremonial  of  the  Day  of  Atonement,  the  sprinkling 
of  the  blood  also  sets  forth  the  covering  or  removal  of  the 
sin  of  the  community,  so  that  God  can  accept  them.  In 
this  inaugural  act  of  the  nation's  existence  as  the  people 
of  God.  Moses  himself  is  the  mediator  of  the  covenant. 
Hence  our  author  associates  the  most  impressive  aspects 
of  the  covenant -idea  as  an  effective  force  in  the  life  of  the 
community — its  inauguration  in  the  distant  past  of  the 
nation's  history,  and  its  renewal  or  continuance  in  the  yearly 
atoning  sacrifice  offered  for  the  sins  of  the  people — with 
Moses  and  the  Aaronic  order  of  priests.  But  we  may 
here  note  that  for  the  writer's  mind  the  sacrificial  ritual  so 
completely  embodied  the  religion  of  Israel  that  it  stood  for 
the  entire  earlier  revelation  of  God.  Now  according  to  an 
influential  Jewish  theologumenon,  which  finds  expression 
in  Acts  vii.  53,  Gal.  iii.  19,  and  the  LXX  of  Dent,  xxxiii.  2, 
that  earlier  revelation  of  the  Divine  will,  codified  in  the  Law, 
was  administered  by  angels  as  bridging  the  gulf  between 
God  and  the  world.  They  also  stand  behind  the  '  first 
covenant '  (Heb.  ix.  15),  and  are  in  a  sense  responsible 
for  it  (ii.  2). 

But  before  we  touch  upon  the  '  better  covenant '  (vii.  22) 
of  which  Jesus  is  the  pledge,  we  must  observe  the  remark- 
able fact  that  the  author  himself  finds  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment a  far-reach'ag  forecast  of  the  new  order.  He  quotes 
Jeremiah's  memovable  words  :  '  This  is  the  covenant  which 
I  will  make  with  the  house  of  Israel  after  those  days,  saith 
the  Lord  :  I  will  put  my  laws  into  their  mind,  and  upon 
their  hearts  will  I  write  them,  and  I  will  be  to  them  a  God, 
and  they  shall  be  to  me  a  people.  And  they  shall  not  teach 
each  his  fellow-citizen  and  each  his  brother,  saying,  Know 
the  Lord,  for  all  of  them  shall  know  me  from  the  least  unto 
the  greatest.  For  I  will  be  gracious  to  their  iniquities, 
and  their  sins  I  will  remember  no  more.'  2     This  prophetic 

1  Jer.  xxxi.  33-34  (quoted  in  Heb.  viii.  10-12) 


198  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  n. 

utterance  is  rich  in  meaning.  The  complex  sacrificial 
ritual  is  ignored.  No  minute  distinction  is  drawn  between 
various  classes  of  sins,  those  which  admit  of  forgiveness  and 
those  which  do  not.  Although  the  covenant  is  still  de- 
scribed with  reference  to  the  community,  the  method  of  its 
realisation  brings  into  the  foreground  the  religious  individual. 
That  implies  a  deepening  of  the  conception  of  sin.  And 
the  inwardness  of  its  nature  clearly  shows  that  the  centre 
of  gravity  has  been  shifted  from  a  code  of  precepts  to  a 
renewed  and  inspired  heart.  The  presupposition  of  all 
is  a  great  act  of  Divine  grace  :  God's  free  and  complete 
pardon  of  His  people's  sins.  The  quotation  is  in  no  sense 
incidental.  For  in  x.  16,  17  the  author  comes  back  to  the 
passage  and  singles  out  those  elements  in  it  which  have 
left  the  profound  est  impression  upon  him  :  '  I  will  put  my 
laws  upon  *  their  hearts,  and  upon  their  mind  will  I  write 
them,  and  their  sins  and  their  iniquities  I  will  remember 
no  more.'  The  inwardness  of  the  new  relationship  to  God 
and  its  basis  in  the  forgiveness  of  sins — these  appeal  to  him 
as  the  crucial  factors  in  the  prophet's  splendid  vision. 

Now  already  Jeremiah's  forecast  had  been  interpreted 
for  the  Christian  consciousness.  For  there  can  be  little 
doubt  that  Jesus  had  it  in  view  when,  at  the  Last  Supper, 
so  closely  associated  with  the  passover  festival,  He  speaks 
of  '  the  new  covenant  in  my  blood.'  2  The  addition  found 
in  Matthew  xxvi.  28,  '  shed  for  many  to  obtain  the  forgive- 
ness of  sins,'  is  at  any  rate  true  to  the  circle  of  ideas  in 
which  His  mind  was  moving.  For  those  to  whom  the  Old 
Testament  conception  of  the  covenant  was  familiar,  Jesus' 
words  could  have  only  one  meaning.  His  death  signified 
the  inauguration  of  a  new  covenant,  a  new  relation  between 
God  and  men.     That  relation  was  initiated  by  the  Divine 

1  Probably  he  uses  'upon  '  {firl)  in  analogy  to  the  inscribing  of  the  older 
law."  upon  tables  of  stone.     Cf.  the  contrast  in  2  Cor.  iii.  3. 

*  We  deliberately  take  St.  Paul's  account  in  1  Cor.  xi.  23  ff.  as  the 
most  authoritative.  The  arguments  which  have  beon  used  to  discredit  it 
are  wholly  arbitrary.  We  also  recognise  that,  in  all  likelihood,  such 
passages  as  Isa.  xlix.  8,  where  the  '  .Servant  of  the  Lord  '  is  described 
as  '  ;t  covenant  of  the  people,'  and  (possibly)  Zech.  ix.  11,  where  the 
deliverance  of  captives  IS  associated  with  '  the  blood  of  the  covenant,' 
were  before  our  Lord's  mind. 


ch.  H.]  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS  199 

grace,  and  it  depended  essentially  on  the  forgiveness  of 
sins,  of  which  Jesus  Himself,  in  His  self-sacrificing  love, 
was  the  eternal  pledge. 

It  is  important  to  note  that  Paul  makes  scarcely  any  use 
of  the  covenant -idea  as  a  reciprocal  relationship  between 
God  and  man,  even  although  he  was  aware  of  its  prominence 
in  the  mind  of  Jesus.  His  view  of  the  redeeming  grace  of 
God  in  Christ  was,  as  we  have  seen,  indissolubly  linked  to 
his  personal  experience.  Release  from  the  bondage  of 
legalism  as  a  code  of  precepts  on  whose  observance  salva- 
tion depended — this  was  the  moral  problem  which  had 
confronted  the  unsatisfied  Pharisee.  It  was  not,  primarily 
at  least,  the  question  of  efficacious  approach  to  God  through 
the  sacrificial  ritual,  although  in  2  Cor.  iii.  6,  entirely  in  the 
spirit  of  Jeremiah,  he  speaks  of  himself  as  a  minister  of  the 
'  new  covenant,  not  of  the  letter  but  of  the  spirit.'  For 
Paul,  the  thought  of  the  Divine  initiative,  already  prominent 
in  the  Old  Testament  idea  of  the  covenant,  is  expressed  by 
a  term  belonging  to  the  circle  of  covenant-ideas,  namely, 
the  Promise.  That  occupies  a  large  place  in  his  Epistles. 
In  an  illustration  of  the  Promise,  resting  on  the  fact  that 
God  had  entered  into  gracious  relationship  with  Abraham 
before  any  legal  code  had  been  thought  of,  and  assuring  him 
of  a  great  future  for  his  descendants  apart  from  any  burden- 
some restrictions,  Paul  uses  the  ordinary  term  for  '  covenant ' 
(SiadrJKr))  in  its  allied  sense  of  '  testament '  or  '  will ' 
(Gal.  iii.  15),  but  entirely  for  illustrative  purposes.  Our 
author,  on  the  other  hand,  introduces  this  meaning  into 
one  significant  passage  (ix.  15-18),  taking  the  pleasure  which 
all  Alexandrian  exegetes  found  in  a  word  with  a  two-fold 
sense.1  '  For  this  reason,'  he  says,  '  Jesus  is  mediator  of 
a  new  covenant  (Smflijio/),  that  those  who  have  been  called 

1  Nothing  could  be  more  futile  than  the  attempt  to  force  the  meaning 
of  '  will '  or  '  testamentary  disposition '  on  5iadrjia>i  throughout  the  Greek 
Bible,  whether  O.  T.  or  N.  T.,  as,  e.g.,  Deissmann  does  (Licht  vom  Ostein, 
p.  243).  The  evidence  of  piles  of  Hellenistic  papyri  is  of  no  value  what- 
ever against  the  covenant-conception  of  the  O.  T.,  which  was  a  religious 
axiom  for  a  Jew.  The  misunderstanding  lies  in  interpreting  the  concep- 
tion of  covenant  primarily  as  a  bargain.  In  the  O.  T.  it  rests  upon  and 
represents  the  Divine  grace. 


200  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft.  h. 

may  obtain  the  eternal  inheritance  which  has  been  promised 
them,  now  that  a  death  has  occurred  which  redeems  them 
from  the  transgressions  belonging  to  the  first  covenant. 
For  in  the  case  of  a  will  (3ia#jJ/oy)}  the  death  of  the  testator 
must  be  announced.  For  a  will  only  holds  in  cases  of 
death  :  it  is  never  valid  while  the  testator  is  alive.  Hence 
even  the  first  covenant  of  God's  will  was  not  inaugurated 
apart  from  blood.'  *  The  phrase  in  italics  (from  Dr. 
Moffatt's  translation)  brings  out  the  connection  of  the  two 
ideas.  The  author's  purpose  here  seems  obvious.  In  the 
great  paragraph  which  precedes  (vv.  11-14),  he  has 
emphasised  Christ's  sacrifice  of  Himself  '  through  eternal 
spirit '  as  once  for  all  realising  the  true  purpose  of  sacrifice, 
the  purifying  of  sin-burdened  consciences  from  a  sense  of 
guilt  so  that  they  could  serve  the  living  God  and  thus 
maintain  the  covenant-relation  unbroken.  Hence  the 
entire  ritual  of  atonement  has  been  antiquated.  But  he 
desires  also,  following  in  the  Master's  own  footsteps,  to 
associate  Christ's  sacrifice  with  the  inauguration  of  the  New 
Covenant  (ver.  18).  This,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Old,  involves 
the  slaying  of  a  victim  whose  blood  is  held  to  atone  for 
sin.2  Instead  of  saying  this  directly,  he  uses  what  seems 
to  us  a  somewhat  irrelevant  argument,  by  passing  from  the 
meaning  of  '  covenant '  to  that  of  '  will,'  and  pointing  out 
that  the  testator  must  die  before  his  will  can  have  any 
significance.  This  mode  of  demonstration,  while  6iiiting 
his  immediate  purpose,  is  really  no  more  than  an  illus- 
tration.3 He  passes  from  it  immediately,  returns  to  the 
description  of  the  indent  ceremonial  in  Exodus,  and 
contrasts  that  with  the  '  better  sacrifice '  of  Christ 
(vv.  18-20). 

1   Chiefly  M. 

1  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  for  the  later  Judaism  in  which  the 
writer  of  Hebrews  had  been  trained,  the  idea  of  atonement  was  crucial 
in  the  inauguration-ritual. 

3  There  is  force  in  Professor  Bruce's  words  :  '  One  wonders  at  the 
introduction  of  so  elementary  and  inferior  a  view  close  upon  the  grand 
conception  <>f  verse  14.  But  .  .  .  he  ia  riot  at  all  sure  that  his  grand 
thou  't  will  striko  his  reader!  ai  it  struck  him,  and  so  he  falls  back  <>ri 
this  cruder  view  as  more  level  to  childish  apprehension  '  (Ep.  to  the  Hebrews, 
p.  360). 


ch.  n.J  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS  201 

For  our  author,  then,  Christ  is  both  the  inaugurator 
of  the  New  Covenant,  and  the  atoning  sacrifice  which 
pledges  its  eternal  validity.  But  that  New  Covenant 
really  belongs  to  the  invisible  realm.  The  great  High 
Priest  is  in  the  heavens,  a  ministrant  in  the  '  real  tabernacle 
which  the  Lord  erected,  not  man '  (viii.  2).  He  has  not 
entered  '  a  holy  place  made  with  hands,  the  antitype  of  the 
genuine  sanctuary,  but  heaven  itself,  now  to  appear  in  the 
presence  of  God  on  our  behalf  '  (ix.  24). 

The  central  place  of  the  conception  of  the  covenant  in 
the  writer's  thought  is  somewhat  obscured  by  the  method 
he  has  followed  in  constructing  his  apology.  He  first 
demonstrates  the  superiority  of  Christ,  as  the  Son  of  God, 
to  the  angels  ;  secondly,  to  Moses  ;  and  finally,  to  the 
Aaronic  priesthood.  Only  in  this  final  comparison,  which 
is  by  far  the  most  elaborate,  does  he  introduce  the  idea  of 
the  covenant.  But,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  all  the  terms  of 
the  contrast  which  he  works  out  are  selected  because  of 
their  relation  to  the  covenant-conception.  It  is  as 
mediators  of  the  earlier  Divine  order  in  which  the  people 
sought  to  realise  their  fellowship  with  the  God  who  had 
revealed  Himself  that  the  angels,  Moses,  and  the  Aaronic 
priests  are  set  over  against  Christ,  the  Mediator  of  the  New 
Covenant.  Hence  the  various  elements  which  disclose 
the  finality  of  the  one  in  contrast  with  the  temporary 
validity  of  the  other  will  appear  as  we  discuss  the  writer's 
comparison  of  Christ  with  the  earlier  mediators  associated 
with  the  religion  of  Israel.  It  may  be  noted  that  he  lays 
supreme  emphasis  on  priestly  mediation,  because  he 
connects  with  atoning  sacrifices  both  the  inauguration  and 
the  maintenance  of  a  covenant  between  God  and  men. 
And  thus  the  priesthood  of  Christ  constitutes  the  main 
theme  of  the  Epistle. 


202  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES         [pt.  n. 

2.  Superiority  of  Christ,  the  Mediator  of  the  New  Covenant, 
as  Son  of  God,  to  : 

a.  Angels 

All  that  the  author  says  about  Christ  has  as  its  pre- 
supposition His  Divine  Sonship.  Whatever  He  has  done  or 
is  doing  He  does  as  the  Son  of  God.  Attention  has  been 
already  called  to  the  close  parallel  between  various  descrip- 
tions of  the  Logos  in  Philo  and  the  statements  regarding 
Christ  as  Son  of  God  in  the  opening  verses  of  our  Epistle. 
Although  a  similar  train  of  thought  appears  in  such 
utterances  of  Paul  as  1  Cor.  viii.  6  and  Col.  i.  16,  17,  with 
which  the  writer  was  probably  acquainted,  there  can  be 
little  doubt  that  his  mode  of  expression  in  i.  1-4  has  been 
directly  influenced  by  Philo  and  Alexandrian  Judaism. 
The  use  of  such  terms  as  '  effulgence '  and  '  impress  '  can 
scarcely  be  accidental.  It  is  also  noteworthy  that  Philo 
repeatedly  calls  the  Logos  the  '  first-born  Son  '  (7r/>wToyovos) 
of  God.  But  it  would  be  altogether  precarious,  as  we 
have  seen,  to  equate  Philo's  conception  of  the  Logos  with 
our  author's  designation  of  Christ  as  Son  of  God.  The 
title  is  one  which  he  must  have  found  in  early  Christian 
usage,  for  he  feels  it  unnecessary  to  offer  any  explanation 
of  it.  It  is  possible,  from  the  frequent  reference  in  the 
New  Testament  to  Ps.  ii.  7,  that  it  was  originally  used  in 
an  adoptive  sense  But  our  investigation  of  its  significance 
for  Paul  has  alreac  y  shown  that  its  history  presents  a  some- 
what complex  probi  m .  In  any  case,  the  writer  of  Hebrews 
does  not  require  to  establish  the  Divine  Sonship  of  Christ 
by  argument.  He  takes  for  granted  that  his  readers  agree 
with  his  position.  And  that  position  h,  to  all  intents  and 
purposes,  identical  with  Paul's,  only  that  this  writer,  for 
his  special  purpose,  has  to  elaborate  it.  It  is  not  enough 
to  say,  with  some  authorities,  that  our  author's  association 
of  the  Christian  order  with  the  invisible  heavenly  world 
necessarily  presupposes  the  pre-existence  of  Christ.  He 
starts,  like  Paul,  from  the  historical   Person,  and   works 


ch.  ii.]  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS  203 

back  to  what  he  regards  as  the  inevitable  implications  of 
that  overpowering  Reality.  His  Alexandrian  training  may 
have  helped  him  in  the  formulation  of  the  convictions  at 
which  he  has  arrived.  But  his  statements  about  Christ  as 
the  'first-born'  (tt/jwtotokos,  i.  6),  as  God's  instrument 
in  creation  (i.  2),  as  '  Son '  par  excellence  (i.  2,  i.  8,  etc.), 
are  not  the  consequences  of  a  metaphysioal  theory.  They 
are  the  inferences  forced  upon  him  by  the  total  result 
of  Jesus'  historical  mission  as  embodied  in  the  Christian 
community,  and  still  more  as  apprehended  in  his  personal 
experience. 

It  has  been  noted  that  the  Christology  of  the  Epistle  is 
indissolubly  linked  to  the  idea  of  the  Christian  revelation 
as  the  New  Covenant.  Hence  the  supremacy  of  this 
covenant  is  involved  in  the  supremacy  of  its  Mediator. 
The  author,  however,  is  not  content  with  a  general  exhibi- 
tion of  Christ's  sovereignty  as  Revealer  of  God.  For  his 
concern  is  to  show  how  the  later  revelation  overshadows 
and  antiquates  the  earlier.  Therefore  he  draws  a  contrast 
in  detail  between  the  new  and  final  Mediator  between  God 
and  men,  and  those  temporary  mediators  to  whom  his 
readers  were  inclined  to  attach  undue  importance. 

He  begins  with  angels,  beca«se  it  was  a  current  Jewish 
doctrine,  taken  over  into  the  Christian  Church,  that  they 
were  concerned  with  the  giving  of  the  Law  at  Sinai.1 
It  might  however  be  objected  that  they  were  spiritual 
beings,  and  that  it  is  illegitimate  to  take  them  as  representa- 
tives of  that  visible  and  material  order  which  is  here  con- 
trasted with  the  invisible  realm  of  the  spirit.  But,  as 
Prof.  Peake  points  out,  '  Jewish  theology  connected  them 
closely  with  the  material  universe,  so  that  each  thing  had 
its  angel.'  2  There  is  scarcely  a  tone  of  disparagement  in 
his  reference.  The  angels  have  a  valuable  function  to 
perform  in  the  history  of  redemption  (i.  14,  ii.  2).  But 
they  are  thrown  into  the  shade  by  the  essential  dignity  of 
Christ.     He  is  Son.     They  are  '  ministering  spirits,'  barely 

1  Cf.  Acts  vii.  53  ;   Gal.  iii.  19  ;    Deut.  xxxiii.  2  (LXX). 

2  Hebrews  (Century  Bible),  p.  18.     Cf.  Paul's  use  of  (rrotxeta  in  Gal.  iv 
■i,  9. 


204  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft.  ii. 

conceivable  as  personalities.  As  such  they  may  be  trans- 
formed into  natural  forces  to  carry  out  in  this  medium 
the  behests  of  God  (i.  7).  Christ's  exaltation  is  eternal. 
He  shares  God's  throne  for  ever,  raised  above  all  mutation 
of  being  (i.  8,  10-12).  No  angel  has  ever  been  invited  into 
this  lofty  partnership  with  God  (i.  13).  Rather  are  they 
bidden  to  bow  down  in  worship  before  the  First-born  of 
the  eternal  world  (i.  6).  Finally,  fcheir  sphere  of  adminis- 
tration is  the  present,  with  all  its  imperfection.  Christ  is 
Lord  of  the  coming  order,  and  His  lordship  is  the  pledge 
that  frail  men  shall  have  that  glorious  invisible  world  as 
their  heritage  (ii.  5-9) -1  Two  moments  in  the  career  of 
Jesus  are  skilfully  worked  into  this  contrast :  His  con- 
descension in  sharing  flesh  and  blood  with  His  brethren, 
and  His  exaltation  to  God's  right  hand  (ii.  9,  14,  i.  3,  4). 
We  call  attention  to  these,  because  again  and  again  in  the 
course  of  his  argument  the  writer  pauses  to  dwell  upon 
them  (e.g.  iv.  14,  15,  v.  7-10,  xii.  2).  No  doubt  in  this  he 
is  above  all  else  carrying  out  the  chief  object  of  his  letter, 
the  bracing  up  of  his  readers  in  loyalty  to  Christ.  He  can 
assure  them  of  their  Master's  sympathy  because  He  has 
entered  into  their  experiences,  and  can  urge  home  the  great 
spiritual  principle  that  suffering  is  the  path  to  victory. 
Probably  also  he  has  the  apologetic  aim  of  setting  the 
humiliation  of  Christ,  which  may  have  been  to  some  a 
stumbling-block,  in  its  true  perspective  as  a  necessary 
stage  in  the  accomplishment  of  salvation.  Nor  can  we 
overlook  his  eagerness  to  prepare  his  readers'  minds,  as 
he  does  by  so  many  similarly  subtle  hints,  for  his  great 
central  exposition  of  Christ's  all-sufficient  priesthood. 

/3.  Moses 

One  of  the  supreme  glories  of  Jewish  tradition  was  the 
mediatorship  of  Moses.     On  him  had  been  conferred  the 

1  The  details  of  tho  contrast  between  Christ  and  the  angels  are  based 
on  O.  T,  po  oagee  trhieh  the  author,  no  doubt  in  common  with  the  whole 
early  Christian  community,  interprets  Bleesianioally.  These  would  have 
tii.  force  oi  proof-texts  for  hit)  reudert ,  although  to  us  hia  method  is  alto- 
gether foreign. 


ch.  ii.]  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS  205 

unique  privilege  of  acting  as  the  channel  of  the  Divine  will 
to  Israel  in  the  formative  period  of  its  history.  No  name 
stood  higher  on  the  national  roll  of  honour.  The  writer's 
estimate  of  his  heroic  figure  is  plain  from  chap.  xi.  23-28. 
No  other  personage  in  the  catalogue  of  worthies  is  marked 
out  for  such  distinction.  The  special  characteristic  of 
Moses  selected  for  emphasis  in  the  present  comparison  is 
taken  from  the  statement  of  Numb.  xii.  7  (LXX)  that  he 
was  '  faithful  in  all  God's  house.'  Obviously  in  that 
passage,  '  house  '  stands  for  '  community  '  or  '  common- 
wealth.' 1  His  fidelity  is  manifested  in  his  administration 
of  Israel  as  the  community  of  God.  Now  for  a  mind  steeped 
in  the  Pentateuch,  the  foundation  of  the  community  would 
be  directly  associated  with  the  inauguration  of  the  covenant 
at  Horeb.  So  that,  in  accord  with  his  general  scheme  of 
thought,  this  moment  probably  lies  in  the  background  of 
the  writer's  mind.  We  know  that  Moses  stands  out  as  the 
medium  between  God  and  the  people  in  the  great  act  of 
dedication  which,  in  Exod.  xxiv.  8,  is  called  a  '  covenant,' 
an  act  which  is  the  response  to  the  gracious  entrance  of 
God  into  their  history.  For  our  author,  a  new  epoch  of 
history,  the  final  epoch,  has  begun  with  Christ.  He 
stands  between  God  and  man  as  Moses  did.  His  fidelity 
is  evident  to  all  who  are  acquainted  with  the  story  of  His 
mission.  In  no  respect  does  He  come  behind  Moses  in  this, 
the  most  important  quality  demanded  of  any  one  who  is 
entrusted  with  the  fulfilling  of  a  high  vocation.  Now,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  Moses'  aim  was  only  partially  attained. 
Although  the  whole  community  entered  through  him  into 
the  covenant,  the  loyalty  of  many  broke  down,  and  the 
promise  embodied  in  the  covenant  was  in  their  case 
thwarted.  Even  Joshua,  the  successor  of  Moses,  was  not 
able  to  lead  them  to  the  desired  end  (iii.  16-19,  iv.  6-8). 
Here,  although  the  contrast  is  not  made  explicit,  there  is  a 
suggestion  that  it  remained  for  Christ  to  make  possible  in 
the  New  Covenant  that  satisfying  relation  to  God  for  which 
they  had  craved.     This,  however,  is  not  the  central  point 

1  See  Dillmann,  ad  loc 


203  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  n. 

of  the  comparison.  Moses,  the  writer  shows,  was  after  all 
only  a  servant  in  the  consecrated  community.  Christ,  as 
the  Son  of  God,  who  of  His  grace  founded  the  community, 
has  authority  over  it  as  the  vicegerent  of  God,  the  Founder. 
That  is  to  say,  on  its  new  basis,  the  consecrated  com- 
munity is  not  at  one  remove  from  God,  as  reaching  the 
knowledge  of  God  through  one  of  its  own  number.  In 
Christ  it  is  brought  directly  into  the  Divine  fellowship, 
for  as  the  Son  He  knows  and  represents  the  Father 
perfectly. 

y.  Aaronic  High  Priests 

It  is  at  first  sight  almost  startling  to  find  the  remarkable 
passage  which  describes  the  human  experience  of  Jesus 
as  perfect  sympathy  with  the  needs  and  trials  of  His 
brethren  (ii.  9-17)  culminating  in  the  statement  :  '  in  order 
to  become  a  compassionate  and  faithful  high  priest  (for 
them)  in  relation  to  God.'  We  are  n©t  prepared  for  this 
abrupt  introduction  of  the  idea  of  priesthood.  With  equal 
abruptness  this  conception  is  made  the  pivot  of  the  ex- 
hortation which  closes  the  elaborate  warning  against 
unbelief  in  iii.  7 — iv.  13,  only  that  now  an  important  note 
of  explanation  is  added  :  '  As  we  have,  therefore,  a  great 
high  priest  who  has  passed  through  the  heavens,  Jesus  the 
Son  of  God,  let  us  hold  fast  our  confession  '  (iv.  14).  The 
words  really  form  the  climax  of  the  writer's  thought  up  to 
this  point,  and  they  reveal  the  lines  along  which  his  mind 
has  been  silently  moving.  He  began  the  Epistle  by  dwelling 
upon  the  glory  of  Jesus  as  Son  of  God,  through  whom  the 
Father  has  given  His  final  revelation  to  men.  But  this 
humbled  Himself  to  enter  the  lot  of  tempted 
humanity.  His  aim  was  to  understand  men  through  and 
through.  Now  He  is  exalted  to  God's  right  hand.  There 
lit-  still  bears  the  burdens  of  His  brethren,  and  represents 
their  needs  in  God's  presence,  and  thus  in  an  altogether 
new  and  glorified  fashion  performs  the  function  of  high 
priest,  keeping  them  in  fellowship  with  the  Divine  mercy 
and  grace.      From  this  point  up  to  x.  32  the  main  theme 


ch.  n.]  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS  207 

of  the  Epistle  is  the  high-priesthood  of  Christ,  viewed  in 
various  aspects  as  the  great  ministry  through  which  men 
are  able  to  draw  near  to  the  living  God. 

From  the  elaboration  of  the  writer's  leading  thesis  we  can 
gather  the  steps  by  which  he  has  reached  his  position.  The 
order  of  subjects  in  the  Epistle  presupposes  rather  than 
indicates  these  steps.1  We  have  already  collected  and 
examined  the  data  which  determine  the  writer's  general  out- 
look. Let  us  recall  its  main  features.  Fundamental  is  the 
antithesis  between  the  realm  of  the  visible  and  transient, 
embodied  for  religion  in  the  legal  ritual  of  Judaism,  and 
that  of  the  invisible  and  eternal  which  has  projected  itself 
into  human  experience  in  the  Christian  revelation.  Now 
the  end  of  religion  is  to  bring  men  near  to  God.  This 
relation  of  access  to  God  found  expression  in  the  Old 
Testament  conception  of  the  covenant.  The  writer  retains 
the  idea,  which  makes  so  powerful  an  appeal  to  all  Jewish 
minds,  and  through  the  medium  of  Jeremiah's  great  picture 
of  the  New  Covenant  finds  it  marvellously  exemplified  in 
Christianity.  But  the  function  of  a  covenant  being  to 
maintain  the  community  in  fellowship  with  God,  and  that 
maintenance,  according  to  the  Law,  depending  on  appro- 
priate sacrifices,  everything  will  turn  on  the  existence  of  an 
adequate  priesthood,  that  can  represent  the  community 
in  making  offerings  to  atone  for  their  sins.  In  the  Christian 
dispensation  Christ  is  the  all-sufficient  Priest.  His  one 
sacrifice  of  Himself  both  inaugurates  the  New  Covenant, 
a  ceremony  which  in  the  ritual  of  the  Pentateuch  involved 
a  sprinkling  of  blood,  and  constitutes  an  eternal  atonement 
for  the  sins  of  His  people,  which  would  otherwise  interrupt 
their  fellowship  with  God. 


(1)  Christ's  Priesthood  included  all  the  valuable  qualities  of 
a  worthy  High  Priest  of  the  Aaronic  Order 

We  are  now  in  a  position  to  discuss  the  writer's  compari- 
son of  Christ's  high -priesthood  with  that  of  the  Aaronic 

1  See  p.  201,  supra. 


206  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  Tpt.  il 

order.  First,  he  sets  himself  to  show  that  it  included  all 
the  valuable  qualities  of  a  worthy  high  priest  of  the  Aaronic 
order.  Now  the  primary  function  of  the  high  priest  was 
to  take  direction  of  the  worship  of  the  community.  As  the 
worship  of  Israel,  like  that  of  all  ancient  peoples,  was 
chiefly  sacrificial,  his  main  business  was  to  see  that  the 
offerings  of  the  people  were  presented  to  God  in  the  manner 
prescribed  by  religious  authority.  These  offerings,  the 
writer  assumes,  are  usually  intended  to  make  atonement 
foi  sin,  to  remove  whatever  defilement  may  hinder  the 
people  from  finding  access  to  their  God.  His  language, 
however,  suggests  that  the  high  priest  who  is  true  to  his 
sacred  calling  will  not  be  a  mere  official  ministrant  of 
sacrifice.  He  will  take  a  larger  view  of  his  vocation  than 
that.  He  will  feel  the  obligation  to  deal  with  burdened 
consciences,  to  offer  spiritual  counsel,  and  all  in  a  spirit  of 
sincere  sympathy,  for  we  know  that  confession  of  sin  for 
the  post-exilic  community  formed  the  very  core  of  the 
sacrificial  ritual.1  Hence  the  high  priest,  a  frail  man 
himself,  must  be  able  '  to  deal  gently  with  the  ignorant  and 
the  erring'  (v.  2).  The  remarkable  term  here  used  to 
describe  his  attitude  (fitrpioiradtii)  implies  the  mean 
between  censorious  severity  and  mere  good-natured 
leniency.  He  will  not  terrify  the  penitent  by  unqualified 
condemnation,  and  jTet  he  dare  not  make  light  of  any  moral 
lapse.  In  virtue  of  his  office  he  can  declare  the  will  of  God, 
but  at  the  same  time  he  will  be  fully  alive  to  the  frailty 
which  besets  even  those  whose  purposes  are  good.  Further, 
no  man  of  himself  would  choose  a  vocation  of  such 
tremendous  responsibility  (v.  4).  He  simply  enters  upon 
it  according  to  Divine  appointment,  and  the  sense  of  a 
Divine  purpose  encourages  him  when  otherwise  he  would 
shrink  from  his  task.  Here,  of  course,  the  author  has  in 
view  the  Jewish  tradition  of  a  priesthood  hereditary  by 
Divine  prescription  in  the  tribe  of  Levi. 

Christ  possesses  both  of  the  specific  qualifications  laid 
down.     On  the  one  hand,  He  is  able  to  sympathise  with 

1  See  Whtdt t   Etobiaaon,  Religious  Ideas  of  the  O.  T.,  p.   167. 


ch.  n.,  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS  209 

the  infirmities  of  His  brethren,  because  He  was  '  tempted 
in  all  points '  like  them  '  yet  without  yielding  to  sin '  (iv.  15). 
No  writer  outside  the  Synoptic  Gospels  gives  so  prominent 
a  place  as  this  to  Jesus'  discipline  of  suffering  x  as  the 
condition  of  His  final  fitness  to  be  Saviour.  The  subject 
seems  to  fascinate  him.  No  doubt,  as  has  been  already 
hinted,  he  finds  in  it  a  strong  ground  of  consolation  to 
offer  to  his  readers  who  are  undergoing  severe  trials.  It 
reminds  them  not  merely  that  their  living  Lord  under- 
stands their  situation,  and  can  therefore  give  them  the 
succour  they  require,  but  also  that  the  way  of  suffering  is 
that  which  leads  to  ultimate  perfection.  But  at  the  same 
time  it  directly  answers  the  author's  central  purpose  of 
exhibiting  Jesus  Christ  as  the  completely  adequate  High 
Priest  who  can  accomplish  what  has  never  been  accom- 
plished before  :  who  is  able  to  remove  all  the  barriers 
which  separate  God  from  His  children  whom  He  desires 
to  '  bring  to  glory '  (ii.  10).  On  the  other  hand,  this 
function  of  Christ  is  assigned  to  Him  by  the  Father.  That 
is  taken  for  granted  again  and  again  in  the  Epistle.  When 
the  writer  wishes  to  demonstrate  it,  be  quotes  two  passages 
from  the  Book  of  Psalms,  which  were  always  interpreted 
Messianically  (v.  &,  6).  His  method,  which  to  us  appears 
so  external,  would  appeal  forcibly  to  his  readers.  The 
second  of  his  quotations,  '  Thou  art  a  priest  for  ever 
according  to  the  order  of  Melchizedek '  (Ps.  ex.  4),  strikes 
the  keynote  of  the  elaborate  discussion  of  Christ's  high 
superiority  to  the  older  priesthood  which  occupies  the 
body  of  the  Epistle. 

(2)  Christ's  Priesthood  possessed  in  addition  those  qualities 
for  lack  of  which  the  Aaronic  Order  of  Priests  failed  in 
its  religious  Office 

It  is  important  to  observe  that  in  seeking  to  establish 
this  superiority,  the  author  is  not  simply  at  the  mercy  of 
an  imposing  theory.     The  basis  of  all  his  elaborate  argu- 

1  E.g.  ii.  9,  10,  14,  17,  18  ;   iv.  15,  10  ;   v.  7-9  ;   xii.  2. 
O 


210  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  it. 

merit  lies  in  his  personal  experience  of  Jesus  Christ.  This 
man,  who  from  his  earliest  days  has  been  familiar  with  the 
sacrificial  system  of  his  nation,  who  is  aware  of  the  firm 
hold  it  has  taken  even  of  spiritual  minds,  has  discovered 
for  himself  that  in  Christ  he  has  actually  come  into  that 
fellowship  with  God  which  the  traditional  ceremonial  had 
promised,  but  which  it  had  never  achieved.  Here  is  the 
New  Covenant  which  Jeremiah  had  foretold  in  real  opera- 
tion. Its  existence  is  intrinsically  involved  in  that  of  the 
exalted  Christ,  '  who  ever  lives  to  make  intercession  for  ' 
His  people.  Hence  it  is  thoroughly  relevant  to  his  own 
religious  history  as  well  as  to  the  pressing  needs  of  his 
readers  to  set  forth  with  reverent  care  those  qualities  by 
which  Christ,  in  contrast  to  the  Aaronic  line  of  officials, 
has  realised  for  His  people  the  true  function  of  High  Priest. 
(a)  Christ  belongs  to  a  new  order  of  priesthood.  The 
elaborate  discussion  of  this  theme  in  vii.  1-25  has  been  skil- 
fully prepared  for  by  a  three-fold  introduction  of  the 
phrase,  '  a  high  priest  (or,  priest)  according  to  the  order 
(tol^lv)  of  Melchizedek,'  1  and  the  discussion  itself  starts 
from  a  characteristically  iUexandrian  treatment  of  the 
primitive  story  in  Genesis,  of  which  the  priest-king 
Melchizedek  forms  the  centre.  Two  considerations  have 
prompted  the  introduction  of  this  strange  figure.  On  the 
one  hand,  there  is  the  psalmist's  phrase  which,  in  the  judg- 
ment of  Jews  and  early  Christians,  describes  the  priesthood 
of  Messiah  and  therefore  directly  refers  to  Christ  (Ps.  ex.  4). 
On  the  other,  the  author,  entirety  in  the  Philonic  maimer, 
finds  the  most  impressive  feature  of  the  ancient  narrative  to 
be  the  timelessness  of  Melchidezek  as  a  historical  personage. 
He  sees  the  psalmist's  description,  '  a  priest  for  ever,' 
exemplified  in  this  man,  who  appears  without  any  setting 
of  lineage  or  family  :  who  is  not  represented,  like  the 
Aaronic  priests,  as  belonging  to  any  succession  :  who,  on 
the  sacred  page,  '  has  neither  beginning  of  days  nor  end  of 

1  v.  6,  10;  vi.  20.  Holtzmann'a  attempt  to  find  in  tho  author's 
emphasis  on  Christ's  priesthood  the  influence  of  Philo's  description  of  the 
J.ogoa  as  hiph  priost  in  one  or  two  places  18  far-fetched  (<>p.  cit.,  ii.  p.  334). 
But  it  may  have  been  one  of  (}!<•  factors  in  tho  formation  of  his  thought. 


ch.  n.]  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS  211 

life,'  and  thus,  so  far  as  Scripture  is  concerned,  '  abides  a 
priest  for  ever.'  *  Here  is  a  priest-king  who  occupies  his 
station,  not  on  account  of  legal  arrangement,  but  in  virtue 
of  his  own  personality.  His  is  the  order  to  which  Christ 
belongs.  He  has  become  priest  '  not  according  to  the 
law  of  a  fleshly  commandment,  but  according  to  the  power 
of  an  indissoluble  lif e '  (vii.  16).  Christ's  priesthood 
invalidates  the  old  Aaronic  order.  That  depended  on 
heredity.  His  depends  on  personality,  a  fulness  of  life 
which  cannot  be  quenched.  He  who  has  come  to  impart 
to  men  '  overflowing  life,'  in  the  Johannine  phrase  (John  x. 
10),  is  the  true  priest  for  men,  the  true  medium  between 
God  and  them.  His  priesthood,  from  the  nature  of  the 
case,  is  eternal  and  inviolable  (vii.  23,  24).  The  full 
significance  of  the  eternal  priesthood  emerges  at  a  later 
stage  of  his  argument.  But  the  new  order  of  priesthood 
implies  essentially  the  establishment  of  the  New  Covenant. 
(6)  The  all-important  function  of  the  priest  is  to  offer 
sacrifice,  as  representing  the  people  before  God.  The  New 
Covenant  established  by  Christ  involves  a  new  type  of  sacrifice. 
The  contrast  between  the  old  and  the  new  is  drawn  in 
detail.  The  Aaronic  priests  offered  their  sacrifices  in  an 
earthly  sanctuary.  But  its  inner  chamber,  the  special 
place  of  the  Divine  Presence,  was  closed  except  for  a  single 
day  in  the  year,  on  which  the  high  priest  entered,  carrying 
the  blood  of  the  sacrificial  victim,  which  he  sprinkled  on 
and  in  front  of  the  mercy-seat,  the  first  time  as  an  atone- 
ment for  his  own  sin,  the  second,  for  the  sins  of  the  people. 
On  this  great  day,  by  a  similar  ceremony,  the  holy  place 
itself,  with  its  furniture,  was  '  atoned  for,'  or  purged  from 
sin.2  These  actions,  as  we  have  seen,  were  intended  to 
'  purify  '  (KuQaplfav)  or  '  sanctify  '  (dytafeti-)  the  people, 
that  is,  to  preserve  them  in  covenant-relation  with  their 

1  vii.  3.  It  is  unnecessary  for  our  purpose  to  ask  whether  the  phrase 
'  for  ever  '  in  Ps.  ex.  4  is  associated  for  the  psalmist,  as  for  our  author, 
with  the  Melchizedek-figure  as  described  in  Genesis.  Obviously  the  latter 
so  regards  it,  and  justifies  the  association  by  bia  exegesis.  For  a  suggestive 
explanation  of  the  phrase,  see  Peake  on  ileb.  i.  13.  Kittel  (Die  Psalmen, 
pp.  400,  401)  contests  the  ascription  of  Ps.  cr.  to  the  Maccabean  period. 

*  See  Lev.  xvi.  11-19. 


212  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pi.  u. 

God.1  The  writer  brings  into  close  connection  with  the 
ritual  of  the  Day  of  Atonement  that  belonging  to  the 
inauguration  of  the  covenant  as  described  in  Exod.  xxiv. 
(ix.  18-20).  Indeed  his  reference  to  the  sprinkling  of  holy 
places  and  vessels  is  introduced  as  if  related  to  the  latter. 
But  throughout  he  draws  no  clear  distinction  between  the 
inauguration  of  the  covenant  and  its  maintenance,  as  is 
plain  from  ix.  15,  where,  in  describing  the  death  of  Christ 
as  the  initiation  of  the  New  Covenant,  he  goes  on  to 
declare  that  that  death  had  as  its  aim  the  forgiveness  of  the 
sins  committed  under  the  earlier  covenant.  That  is  to 
say,  the  same  event  is  regarded  both  as  an  inaugural  and 
an  atoning  sacrifice.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  basal  idea 
in  his  mind  is  expressed  in  ix.  22  :  '  Apart  from  shedding 
of  blood,  there  is  no  remission  of  sins.'  Both  these  types  of 
sacrifice  have  as  their  purpose  the  forgiveness  of  sins, 
which  are  the  violation  of  the  covenant.  Probably  the 
dictum  laid  down  is  an  axiom  for  the  writer,  as  it  was  for 
the  Hebrew  mind  in  general.  He  does  not  theorise  on  its 
significance.  Blood,  regarded  as  the  seat  of  life,  atones. 
But  his  description  of  the  Levitical  ritual,  as  it  culminated 
in  that  of  the  Day  of  Atonement,  emphasises  its  inadequacy. 
The  same  ceremonial  was  repeated  year  after  year.  The 
Holy  of  Holies  where  God  was  to  be  met  remained  closed 
save  for  one  day  annually.  The  sacrifices  themselves  were 
bound  up  with  a  system  of  '  meats  and  drinks  and  various 
purifications.'  They  consisted  of  the  blood  of  bulls  and 
goats.2  As  regards  these,  the  writer  bluntly  declares  that 
'  it  is  impossible  that  they  should  remove  sin  '  :  that 
'  they  have  no  power  to  perfect  (t<A€m?jo-ui)  the  worshipper 
in  his  conscience,'  i.e.  to  remove  his  sense  of  guilt  so  thai 
he  may  have  the  assurance  of  real  fellowship  with  God. 
The  very  fact  of  this  repetition  pointed  to  the  abiding 
consciousness  of  guilt.3  And  he  boldly  appeals  to  Ps.  \i 
6-8  as  scriptural   evidence  that  God   had   no  pleasure   in 

1   In  ix.  S)  Ti\nu.aai,  'to  perfect,'  ifl  liaed  in  the  same  sense.      S.-c  I  'Vim-. 
<■/>.  '  it.,  p.    i 

•,  ix.    10,  iv.    1  I  1,  ix.  9,  I 


ch.  ii.]  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS  2 13 

sacrifices,  but  that  His  delight  was  in  the  obedient  wiLi 
(x.  5-9).  Hence  we  may  take  as  his  general  principle  the 
statement  made  with  reference  to  the  priesthood  :  '  The 
earlier  commandment  is  cancelled  on  account  of  its 
feebleness  and  futility,  for  the  law  brought  nothing  to  its 
goal'  (vii.  18  f.). 

The  question  naturally  arises  :  Did  the  writer  hold  that 
the  older  ritual  had  been  simply  labour  lost  ?  That 
would  be  a  most  precarious  inference.  It  was  an  integral 
part  of  the  religious  system  of  Israel,  and  although  '  the 
law  brought  nothing  to  its  goal,'  it  contained  nevertheless 
'  a  shadow  of  the  blessings  to  come,'  and  its  ministrants 
served  'a  copy  of  the  heavenly  realities'  (x.  1,  viii.  5). 
But  while  the  '  shadow '  is  very  different  from  '  the 
fac-simile '  which  is  presented  in  the  Christian  faith,  it  is 
better  than  nothing.  It  provided  a  ritual  cleansing  for 
the  community  (ix.  13),  a  cleansing  which,  for  devout  minds 
that  could  penetrate  beneath  the  letter  to  the  spirit,  must 
have  often  meant  a  sense  of  restoration  to  the  Divine 
communion.  But  at  best  the  machinery  was  cumbrous  : 
at  best  the  pathway  into  God's  presence  was  dimly  lighted. 
No  wonder  that  a  man  who  had  in  his  own  experience 
grasped  the  significance  of  Christ  could  affirm  that  the  old 
sacrifices  '  were  of  a  kind  which  could  never  remove  sin ' 
(x.  11)  :  no  wonder  that  he  exulted  in  '  the  new  and  living 
(i.e.  effective)  way '  into  the  sanctuary  of  God's  presence, 
inaugurated  by  the  sacrifice  of  Christ.1  Christ,  in  contrast 
to  the  Aaronic  priests,  is  '  a  minister  of  the  genuine  taber- 
nacle,' which  is  the  heavenly  world,  the  real  abode  of  God's 
presence.  As  exalted  above  all  that  is  material  and 
imperfect,  He  represents  His  people  in  the  Holy  of  Holies 
'  not  made  with  hands.'  He  too  has  made  an  offering, 
but  not  on  His  own  behalf,  an  atoning  sacrifice  in  virtue 
of  which  He  could  enter  the  Divine  presence,  to  give  His 
worshipping  people  the  assurance  that  their  sins  were 
purged  away.  This  He  did  once,  and  once  for  all.  The 
offering  was  Himself,  in  His  spotless  purit}^.     It  was  made 

1  x.  19,  20. 


214  THE  THEOLOGY  OP  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  n. 

'  through  eternal  spirit.'  1  This  differentiates  it  from  the 
animal  sacrifices.  It  had  the  whole  power  of  His  deathless 
personality  in  it  :  it  was  an  embodiment  of  all  that  He  was. 
So  its  worth  can  never  fade.  Its  moral  significance  is  that 
it  realises  the  Divine  will.  It  is  an  act  of  perfect  obedience 
Its  effect  corresponds  to  its  character.  It  does  completely 
what  the  earlier  ritual  had  never  achieved  :  it  cleanses 
the  conscience  from  dead  works  to  serve  the  living  God.2 
The  description  is  very  remarkable.  The  living  God  is 
God  manifested  as  He  truly  is,  in  Jesus  Christ,  '  all  active 
in  putting  Himself  forth  to  men,  and  all  responsive  to  their 
putting  of  themselves  forth  to  Him.'  3  As  soon  as  the 
conscience  is  unburdened  of  its  sin,  it  passes  out  of  the 
sphere  of  death  into  that  of  life,  which  is  the  sphere  of  God. 
For  the  first  time  the  human  spirit  finds  its  real  home. 
This  new  condition  the  writer  describes  by  the  old  ritual 
term,  'sanctify'  (ayidfciv).  The  word  retains  its  associa- 
tion with  the  covenant -idea.  But  it  implies  a  covenant 
'  which  has  been  enacted  on  the  basis  of  better  promises.'  4 
This,  then,  is  the  assurance  brought  to  the  believing 
heart  by  the  sacrifice  of  Christ.  The  writer  sets  forth,  as 
usual,  in  the  language  of  cultus,  the  transformation  which 
had  been  wrought  in  his  own  life  and  that  of  his  fellow- 
Christians  by  coming  into  relation  with  Christ  and  His 
redeeming  activity.  It  is  for  him  concentrated  in  His 
death  and  (as  we  shall  see)  His  exalted  life  of  intercession. 
1  Having  been  perfected,5  he  became  the  cause  of  eternal 
salvation  to  all  who  obey  him  '  (v.  9).  But  what  He  has 
done  carries  with  it  the  total  impression  of  His  career  as 
Saviour.  To  each  element  alike  we  may  apply  what  Prof. 
Bruce  has  said  of  Christ's  sacrifice,  that  it  '  acts  on  the 
conscience  through  the  mind  interpreting  its  significance, 
and  in  proportion  as  it  is  thought  on.'  6  Such  inter- 
pretation and  reflection  would  necessarily  be  coloured  by 

1  viii.  2,  vii.  26,  ix.  11,  vii.  27,  ix.  12,  x.  12,  ix.  14. 
■  x.  5>,  10;    ix.   14,  •  Davidson  on  Heb.  iii.  12. 

«  x.   10,  14,  L".t  :    viii  6. 

6   Hi-i  T,\>Liojis  was  effected  by  suffering  and  death  ;    it  u.is  realised  in 
His  exaltation.  '  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  p.  350. 


ch.  ii.]  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS  215 

the  author's  presuppositions.  When  these  presuppositions 
are  modified  in  the  course  of  a  long  development  of  reli- 
gious experience  the  interpretation  inevitably  receives  an 
enlargement  of  range  and  an  enriching  of  content. 


(b)  Consummation  of  the  New  Covenant  in  the  World  to  Come 

1.  Christ's  High  Priesthood  a  Link  between  the  Present  and 
the   World  to  come 

The  ultimate  issue  of  our  author's  conception  of  the 
high-priesthood  of  Christ  finds  expression  in  viii.  1  : 
1  We  have  a  high  priest  of  such  a  character  that  he  sat 
down  at  the  right  hand  of  the  throne  of  majesty  in  the 
heavens.'  Christ's  exaltation  completely  overshadows  His 
resurrection  in  this  Epistle,  while  of  course  presupposing 
it.  And  it  is  invariably  linked  to  the  atoning  sacrifice  of 
Himself  which  He  offered  as  High  Priest  for  His  people  : 
'  Having  offered  one  sacrifice  for  sin  of  eternal  value,  he 
sat  down  at  the  right  hand  of  God '  (x.  12).  The  latter 
phrase  which  he  uses  so  often  has  come  from  his  favourite 
Psalm,  the  110th.  But  he  always  interprets  it  from  the 
point  of  view  of  Christ's  high -priesthood.  By  the  pathway 
of  His  sacrificial  death,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  was  at 
once  the  inauguration  of  a  new  relationship  to  God  and  the 
pledge  that  such  a  relationship  should  never  be  broken, 
He  passed  into  the  Divine  presence  and  abides  there  for 
ever.  There  can  therefore  be  no  interruption  to  the  ap- 
proach of  those  '  who  come  unto  God  by  him,  seeing  he 
ever  fives  to  make  intercession  for  them  '  (vii.  25).  A 
barren  controversy  has  been  waged  around  the  question  : 
When  did  Christ  become  high  priest  ?  Was  it  at  His 
death  or  when  He  entered  heaven  ?  The  author  draws 
no  such  distinction.  According  to  the  symbolism  used,  He 
must  have  been  high  priest  when  He  offered  the  sacrifice, 
but  the  sacrifice  is  not  complete  until  it  is  presented  before 
God.  But  Christ  never  leaves  the  heavenly  sanctuary, 
therefore  He  is  an  eternal  high  priest.     His  people  can 


21G  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES         [pt.  d. 

always  count  on  His  interest  in  their  needs.  They  may 
always  be  sure  that  He  '  can  bring  to  bear  all  the  resources 
of  the  Almighty  for  the  complete  and  final  salvation  of  his 
brethren.'  1 

A  remarkable  turn  is  given  to  the  idea  of  Christ's  high- 
priesthood,  which  reveals  a  further  range  of  the  writer's 
thought.  It  is  introduced  almost  as  if  incidentally,  but  it 
belongs  to  a  fundamental  element  in  his  scheme  of  con- 
ceptions. In  describing  the  hope  of  the  Christian  as  an 
anchor  cast  within  the  heavenly  world,  that  world  which  is 
at  present  veiled  from  his  eyes  as  the  Holy  of  Holies  was 
curtained  off  from  the  gaze  of  the  worshippers  in  the 
ancient  tabernacle,  he  reminds  his  readers  that  Jesus  has 
penetrated  behind  the  veil  as  their  High  Priest,  but  also 
as  their  Forerunner  (irpoSpo/jios).2  Here  is  a  vital  trans- 
formation of  the  picture.  The  Aaronic  high  priest  was 
permitted  once  a  year  to  pass  within  the  Holy  of  Holies, 
but  no  worshipper  could  ever  expect  to  follow  him.  At 
best  their  fellowship  with  God  was  mediated.  Christ  has 
entered  the  true  sanctuary  in  the  heavenly  world,  not  to 
spend  a  brief  moment  there  but  to  abide  for  ever.  But 
in  so  doing  He  has  prepared  the  way  by  which  His  people 
are  destined  to  follow  Him.  The  veil  has  been  withdrawn. 
Their  perfecting  will  be  on  the  same  lines  as  His  (v.  9). 
It  will  mean  entrance  into  the  real  sanctuary,  complete 
and  immediate  communion  with  God.  That  will  be  the 
consummation  of  the  New  Covenant. 

Now  a  most  important  feature  in  our  author's  outlook 
is  the  conviction  that  already  Christians  have  entered  upon 
this  consummation,  have  begun  to  live  in  the  world  to 
come,  the  invisible  heavenly  order.  At  an  early  stage  in 
our  discussion  we  found  how  central  for  the  Epistle  was 
the  contrast  between  the  present,  as  the  world  of  shadows, 
embodied  for  religion  in  the  ritual  of  Judaism,  and  the 
world  to  come  as  the  realm  of  realities,  which  have  their 
true  copy  in  the  Christian  dispensation.  The  author 
ventures  to  go  further  than  this,  and  to  declare  that,  in  a 
»  Bruce,  up.  cit.,  p.  280.  "  vi.  20. 


ch.  ii.J  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS  217 

sense,  the  world  to  come,  the  Messianic  age  of  ardent  Jews, 
has  already  broken  in,  has  already  projected  itself  into 
the  closing  epoch  of  this  present  age.  That  is  the  real 
meaning  of  the  New  Covenant.  It  is  not  merely  a  hope  : 
it  is  already  fruition.  Here  he  touches  the  thought  of  Paul. 
Paul  too  has  the  belief  that  Christians  are  even  now 
'  delivered  from  this  age  which  is  evil.'  Their  common- 
wealth is  already  in  heaven.  Their  lot  has  been  cast  in 
'  the  closing  hours  of  the  world.'  *  This  phrase  has  a 
marked  resemblance  to  that  of  Heb.  i.  2  :  '  the  close  of 
these  days,'  an  epoch  signalised  by  the  manifestation  of 
Jesus  Christ.2  His  appearance,  or  at  least  His  high-priestly 
service  on  behalf  of  His  people,  has  virtually  inaugurated 
the  coming  era.  Their  present  access  to  God  through  Him 
is  a  genuine  anticipation  of  the  future.  They  know  that 
they  possess  a  better  than  any  earthly  heritage,  one  that 
endures.  They  have  already  '  tasted  the  heavenly  gift 
.  .  .  and  the  powers  of  the  world  to  come '  (fiZWovros 
atwros).8  In  Jesus  Christ  their  representative  High  Priest 
and  Forerunner,  who  has  carried  with  Him  into  the 
heavenly  order  the  life  and  experience  in  which  He  became 
one  with  His  brethren,  they  are  now  '  partakers  of  a 
heavenly  calling.'  They  have  come  '  to  Mount  Sion,  the 
city  of  the  living  God,  the  heavenly  Jerusalem,  to  myriads 
of  angels  in  festal  gathering,  to  the  assembly  of  the  first- 
born enrolled  in  heaven.'  4  The  Christian  is  thus  living 
a  two -fold  life.  '  Actually  he  still  lives  within  the  lower 
order.  But  ideally  he  has  already  transcended  it,  and  he 
confidently  looks  forward  to  the  time  when  the  actual 
shall  be  one  with  the  ideal.'  5  Even  now,  in  wondrous 
fashion,  the  ideal  is  translated  into  the  real  through  faith. 

1  Gal.  i.  4  ;  Phil.  hi.  20  ;    1  Cor.  x.  11  (M.). 

*  Cf.  ix.  26  :  iirl  avvTeXdq.  twv  aiwrtvy  .   .   .  TretpaytpioTai,   *  at  the   end 
of  the  ages  ...  he  has  been  manifested.' 

8  x.  34;  vi.  4,  5.  «  iii.  1 ;  xii.  22,  23  (M.). 

•  Peake,  Hebrews,  p.  21. 


218  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  n. 

2.  Faith,  the  indispensable  Attitude  of  Members  of  the 
New  Covenant 

In  our  examination  of  Paulinism  it  became  clear  that 
faith,  for  Paul,  primarily  means  a  surrender  of  the  whole 
being  to  the  once  crucified  and  now  living  Christ,  with  the 
close  intimacy  of  spirit  which  that  involves.  This  was  a 
re-shaping,  on  the  ground  of  personal  experience,  of  a 
conception  which  held  a  place  both  in  the  Old  Testament 
and  Judaism.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  in  the  school 
of  Gamaliel  Paul  would  hear  and  take  part  in  discussions  of 
the  '  faith  '  of  Abraham,  the  classical  believer  of  Hebrew 
tradition  (Gen.  xv.  6).  In  the  Book  of  Psalms,  with  which 
he  was  familiar,  trust  is  emphasised  as  the  fundamental 
attitude  of  the  devout  soul  to  God.  Now  through  his 
three-fold  reference  to  Abraham's  faith  in  Rom.  iv.1  there 
shines  the  regular  Old  Testament  idea  of  faith  as  confidence 
in  the  fidelity  of  God,  and  the  same  idea  belongs  to  Isa. 
xxviii.  16,  which  Paul  deliberately  adjusts  to  his  own 
Christian  conception.2  Meanwhile  Philo  had  given  faith  a 
central  place  in  religion.  It  is  true  that  here  and  there  it 
assumes  a  highly  intellectual  cast.  But  when  discussing, 
as  he  delights  to  do,  the  faith  of  Abraham  (Gen.  xv.  6), 
he  clearly  brings  out  its  religious  value  :  e.g.  De  Migrat. 
Ahr.  132,  'It  was  after  Abraham  believed  that  he  is  said 
to  have  drawn  near  to  God  '  ;  De  Abrah.  268,  '  So  the 
only  genuine  and  sure  blessing  is  faith  towards  God,  the 
consolation  of  life,  the  fulness  of  gracious  hopes.'  3 

It  is  possible,  but  perhaps  scarcely  necessary,  to  suppose 
that  the  prominence  which  our  author  gives  to  faith  is 
partly  due  to  Philonic  influence.4  In  any  case,  his  state- 
ment regarding  Moses  in  xi.  27,  '  for  as  seeing  the  invisible 

1  Gen.  xv.  6,  quoted  in  Rom.  iv.  3,  0,  22. 

2  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  while  Hah.  ii.  4,  '  the  righteous  man  shall 
live  by  his  faithfulness,'  is  quoted  by  Paul  (Rom.  i.  17,  Gal.  hi.  11)  as  an 
O.  T.  argument  for  the  typical  faith  of  the  Christian  as  the  aposH«  himself 
has  formulated  it,  it  appoar.-i  in  Hob.  x.  38  in  its  original  sense  of  '  fidelity, ' 
although,  of  course,  toil  fidelity       the  product  of  trust  in  God. 

1  Cf.  <Jui»  Her.  Div.  Her.,  90-W 

*  So  Soltzmano,  •<//.  cit.,  Li,  p,  'litif. 


ch.  n.l  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS  219 

he  endured,'  is  a  genuine  reflection  of  the  Old  Testament 
standpoint  which  Philo  also  discerned.  True  to  the  bias 
of  his  mind,  he  assigns  to  faith  the  crucial  function  in  the 
life  of  the  Christian  under  the  New  Covenant.  The  famous 
muster-roll  of  Old  Testament  heroes  of  faith  is  another 
demonstration  that  the  new  order  is  the  consummation  of 
the  old.  They  '  died  in  faith,  not  having  attained  the 
promises,  but  only  seeing  them  afar  off  and  hailing  them  ' 
(xi.  13).  For  Christians  the  Divine  promises  have  been 
put  on  a  totally  different  footing  by  Christ,  who,  Son  of 
God  as  He  was,  became  one  with  His  brethren,  shared  their 
discipline  of  trial,  made  that  final  sacrifice  for  their  sins 
which  gave  Him  free  entrance  into  the  very  presence  of  God, 
where  He  abides  as  a  pledge  that  they  may  follow  in  His 
steps.  Hence,  faith  for  the  Christian  receives  a  far  richer 
content  than  it  ever  could  have  had  under  the  Old  Covenant. 
It  has  become  a  new  attitude,  of  which  Christ  is  the  founder 
and  perfecter.1  With  altogether  fresh  cogency  they  may 
be  convinced  of  the  reality  of  the  invisible  world,  because 
now  they  are  able  to  draw  near  to  God  without  restriction. 

It  ought  to  be  noted  that  this  emphasis  on  faith  has  a 
directly  apologetic  bearing.  The  readers  were  in  danger 
of  losing  touch  with  that  good  news  of  Christ  which  had 
once  illumined  them,  and  had  enabled  them  to  endure 
a  hard  conflict  of  sufferings.2  Confidence,  therefore,  is 
what  above  all  else  they  require,  and  the  steadfast  endur- 
ance which  confidence  brings.  They  had  begun  most 
hopefully.  They  must  hold  fast  their  glad  courage  and  the 
hope  in  which  they  had  exulted  firmly  to  the  end  (iii.  6). 

We  do  not  need  to  dwell  upon  the  celebrated  definition 
of  faith  given  in  xi.  1,  nor  upon  its  familiar  expansion  in 
xi.  6.  In  these  passages,  which  have  a  distinctly  Philonic 
flavour,  the  writer  wishes  to  lay  a  broad  basis  for  the 
attitude  of  faith,  one  which  will  hold  good  of  all  stages  in 
the  history  of  religion,  even  the  most  rudimentary.  And  he 
at  once  relates  his  definition  to  the  experience  of  Old 
Testament  worthies,  who,  as  he  observes  later,  could  not 

1  xi.  39,  40  ;>ii.  2.  •  ii.  3,  4  ;   vi.  4  ;   x.  33. 


220  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt.  u. 

reach  their  goal  apart  from  the  higher  order  inaugurated 
and  maintained  by  Christ  (xi.  40).  Thus  there  is  an 
element  of  truth  in  Bruce's  statement  that  in  this  Epistle 
'  faith  derives  its  virtue  from  its  psychological  character  as 
a  faculty  of  the  human  mind,  whereby  it  can  make  the 
future  present  and  the  unseen  visible.'  1  In  this  aspect  of 
it  we  can  trace  Philonic  affinities.  But  if  the  author  may 
be  allowed  to  reveal  a  certain  psychological  interest  in  the 
conception,  as  Philo  unquestionably  does,2  that  is  com- 
pletely overshadowed  by  its  religious  application,  which  is 
always  in  the  forefront. 

Some  scholars  have  emphasised  the  notion  that  in 
Hebrews  faith  is  not  associated,  as  in  Paul,  with  the 
beginning  of  the  Christian  career,  but  rather  with  its 
development.  Certainly,  in  addressing  this  particular  com- 
munity, the  writer  is  not  concerned  with  beginnings,  as  he 
deliberately  asserts,3  and  so  he  does  not  require  to  deal 
with  an  initial  faith.  But  it  is  noteworthy  that  among 
the  elementary  Christian  doctrines  he  mentions  faith  in 
God  ;  and  when  he  reminds  his  readers  that  they,  like  the 
ancient  Israelites,  have  received  a  Divine  message  (iv.  2), 
he  warns  them  against  the  fate  of  their  forefathers,  who 
gained  no  benefit  from  that  which  they  heard,  because 
*  it  was  not  mixed  with  faith  for  the  hearers.'  4  The 
words  surely  imply  that  faith,  in  the  author's  sense  of 
confiding  in  the  revelation  of  God,  belongs  not  merely  to 
the  progress  but  also  to  the  starting-point  of  a  Christian 
course.  That  is  corroborated  by  his  conception  of  Christ 
as  the  founder  as  well  as  the  perfecter  of  the  Christian 
faith.  It  is  obviously  difficult  in  such  a  connection  to  draw 
a  sharp  distinction  between  faith  and  obedience.  So  we 
are  not  surprised  to  find  the  writer  setting  forth  obedience 
as  the  condition  of  salvation.5     For  if  a  Gospel  is  really 


1  Op.  cit.,  p.  448. 

1  See  Bonnet,  Die  Religion  d.  Judentums,*  pp.  514,  515. 

•  vi.   1. 

4   Ken-ding    ffuvKiKfpa<j/.u'vos    instead    of    -vovs,    which,    although    better 
attested,  does  not  give  nearly  such  good  sonae. 

•  v.  9:    cf.  li.  1. 


ch.  ii.]  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS  221 

accepted  as  the  appeal  of  the  living  God,  it  is  bound  to  be 
obeyed. 

Now,  if  such  a  Gospel  lays  hold  of  the  mind  in  the  form 
of  a  promise  of  eternal  blessedness  to  be  consummated  in 
the  heavenly  world,  faith  will  operate  largely  as  the  immov- 
able basis  of  a  splendid  hope.  That  is  the  position  of 
Hebrews.  The  two  ideas  are  virtually  interchangeable. 
'  We  desire  each  of  you,'  he  says,  '  to  give  the  same  proof 
(as  they  had  done  in  Christian  sendee)  of  your  eagerness  to 
maintain  your  hope  in  full  vigour  to  the  end,  so  that  instead 
of  being  slack  you  may  imitate  those  who  by  their  faith 
and  patience  are  in  possession  of  the  promises  '  (vi.  11,  12). 
Thus  from  first  to  last  the  Epistle  rings  with  the  note  of  a 
steadfast  hope,  a  hope  which  is  not  the  mere  dream  of 
heated  imaginations,  but  rather  the  anchor  of  the  soul, 
cast  within  the  invisible  world  of  realities  through  the 
power  of  faith  in  a  God  who  cannot  deceive.1  A  faith  so 
daring  and  yet  so  closely  linked  to  actual  experience  already 
spans  the  gulf  between  earth  and  heaven.  The  believer 
may  well  give  thanks  that  even  now  he  receives  from  the 
God  to  whom  he  has  drawn  near  through  Christ,  the  great 
High  Priest,  a  realm  which,  unlike  this  terrestrial  order, 
can  never  be  shaken.2 

»  vi.  18  f.  a  xii.  28. 


PART  III 

THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  DEVELOPING  CHURCH 

(a)  Shaping  Forces 

As  already  noted  in  the  introductory  chapter,  we  regard 
the  Epistles  to  Timothy  and  Titus,  those  which  bear  the 
names  of  James  and  Jude,  and  the  Second  assigned  to 
Peter  as  monuments  of  the  Theology  of  the  Developing 
Church .  Before  we  examine  the  dominating  features  of  this 
phase  of  early  Christian  thought,  we  must  take  a  brief 
glance  at  the  forces  which  gave  it  shape. 

When  we  pass  from  the  Letters  of  Paul  to  such  docu- 
ments as  the  First  Epistle  of  Clement  to  the  Corinthians, 
the  so-called  Epistle  of  Barnabas,  the  Teaching  of  the 
Twelve  Apostles,  and  the  Shepherd  of  Hermas — all  of  them 
probably  belonging  to  the  period  between  95  and  150  a.d. — 
we  are  conscious  of  a  changed  atmosphere.  Even  the 
familiar  Pauline  terms,  which  frequently  occur,  seem  to  be 
infected  with  a  curious  dryness.  I*  is  not  that  the  writers 
lack  religious  earnestness.  But  their  religion  is  more  or 
less  prosaic  in  its  type.  Indeed  Hermas  himself  seems 
alive  to  the  situation,  when  he  represents  the  young  man 
who  appears  to  him  in  one  of  his  Visions  (iii.  11)  as  saying  : 
'  Your  spirit  has  grown  old  and  is  now  withered,  and  it 
has  lost  power.'  The  splendid  enthusiasm  of  Paul's  spiri- 
tuality has  vanished,  and  in  its  stead  there  has  emerged 
a  correct,  commonplace  piety  which  claims  from  its 
adherents  self-control,  patience,  obedience,  and  brotherly- 
love,  and  furnishes  them  with  an  elaborate  scries  of  maxims, 
intended  to  regulate  their  conduct  from  <la\  to  day.  We 
8  rely  miss  the  fresh ii"tw  and  spontaneity  of  Paul's  experi- 

222 


pt.  in.]  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  DEVELOPING  CHURCH  223 

ence.  There  are  no  surprises  of  heroic  faith,  no  outbursts  of 
self-forgetting  devotion  to  Christ,  no  bold  ideals  of  service 
and  consecration.  '  A  common  greyness  silvers  every- 
thing.' At  this  lower  level  of  thought  and  feeling  larger 
room  is  left  for  a  somewhat  mechanical  repetition  of  Jewish 
ideas,  which  have  come  to  form  part  of  the  Church's 
religious  equipment,  and  for  an  emphasising  of  ecclesiastical 
ordinances  and  arrangements,  which  brings  into  relief  the 
external  rather  than  the  inner  requirements  of  the  Christian 
society. 

Now  it  would  be  an  exaggeration  hastily  to  group  with 
these  documents  the  later  New  Testament  Epistles  which 
we  are  investigating.  Yet  the  unprejudiced  reader  who 
chooses  to  make  the  comparison  will  be  struck  with  many 
remarkable  parallels  between  them,  and  a  careful  study 
will  show  that  in  these  later  books  we  have  at  least  the 
beginnings  of  the  tone  and  temper  which  are  clearly  mani- 
fest in  the  writings  of  the  Apostolic  Fathers. 

The  question,  therefore,  arises  :  What  is  the  explanation 
of  this  divergence  of  spirit,  how  shall  we  account  for  the 
diminution  of  religious  vision  and  intensity  which  un- 
doubtedly confronts  us  ?  We  must,  it  is  true,  beware  of 
over-straining  the  contrast.  For  passages  may  be  quoted 
from  these  post-Pauline  Epistles  which  recall  the  fervour 
of  the  great  apostle,  and  move  among  the  same  funda- 
mental ideas.  But  we  have  specially  to  attend  to  that 
which  is  typical  rather  than  to  isolated  expressions  which 
reveal  the  earlier  vigour.  And  when  we  speak  of  this 
'  earlier  vigour '  we  would  include  First  Peter  and  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  although  the  latter  has  various 
interesting  points  of  contact  with  the  documents  under 
review.  First  of  all,  we  miss  the  accent  of  eager  religious 
individuality.  Paul  was  the  very  embodiment  of  extra- 
ordinary creative  energy.  Peter  reveals  the  freshness  of 
impression  which  characterises  a  mind  and  heart  in  direct 
touch  with  the  beginnings  of  the  Christian  movement. 
The  writer  to  the  Hebrews,  while  reflecting  something  of 
the  later  Church -consciousness,  is  a  man  who  has  wrestled 


224  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt. 

in  a  highly  original  fashion  with  the  problem  of  the  relation 
of  Christianity  to  Judaism,  and  his  solution  bears  the  stamp 
of  independent  thinking.  The  authors  of  our  Epistles, 
sincere  as  they  are  in  their  efforts  to  preserve  '  the  faith  once 
for  all  delivered  to  God's  people '  (Jude  3),  and  zealous 
for  the  Church  as  '  the  pillar  and  bulwark  of  the  truth  ' 
(1  Tim.  iii.  15),  are  primarily  inheritors  of  a  tradition.  '  The 
truth  '  is  a  phrase  which  constantly  recurs,  and  it  of  course 
implies  a  settled  body  of  doctrine  which  is  the  criterion 
for  the  Christian  profession.  Its  correlative  is  the  Church, 
regarded  not  so  much  from  the  Pauline  standpoint  as  the 
Body  of  Christ,  but  rather  as  a  carefully  organised  institu- 
tion, administered  by  special  functionaries.  Spiritual  gifts 
have  fallen  into  the  background.  The  important  offices 
are  assigned  to  men  who  possess  a  well-marked  range  of 
qualifications. 

All  this  presupposes  a  fresh  stage  in  the  development  of 
the  Christian  society.  A  generation  was  growing  up  which 
had  been  born  within  the  community,  and  its  conception 
of  the  faith  was  not  so  vivid  or  immediate  as  that  of  the 
preceding  epoch.  There  had  also  been  an  influx  of  members 
in  the  mass,  carrying  with  them  into  the  Church  survivals 
of  pagan  ideas  and  pagan  habits.  Moreover,  many  of  the 
converts  had  been  won  by  missionaries  whose  grasp  of  the 
faith  was  far  less  sure  and  comprehensive  than  that  of  Paul. 
In  any  case,  as  the  diffusion  of  the  new  religion  became 
wider,  more  numerous  points  of  contact  would  be  estab- 
lished with  heathen  society,  and  the  tendency  to  com- 
promise would  find  freer  scope.  The  fact  that  many 
adherents  of  Christianity  had  alread}'  formed  close  associa- 
tions with  the  synagogue  meant  the  inevitable  intrusion  of 
central  elements  from  Judaism.  A  monotheism  implying 
a  uniquely  transcendent  God,  a  strict  doctrine  of  retribu- 
tion, a  legal  conception  of  the  Divine  will  as  manifested  in 
a  code  of  detailed  injunctions — these  became  factors  of 
regulative  importance  in  the  Theology  of  the  Developing 
Church,  and  that,  not  merely  because  they  had  already 
been  influential    in  the  experience  of  pagan  seekers  after 


ni.]    THEOLOGY  OF  THE  DEVELOPING  CHURCH   225 

God,  but  also  because  they  corresponded  to  certain  pressing 
needs  of  the  time. 

The  foundations  of  Christianity  had  been  laid  by  the 
great  missionaries  of  the  earlier  era.  In  the  period  which 
here  concerns  us  the  clamant  necessity  was  the  actual 
practice  of  those  Christian  virtues  which  were  the  outgrowth 
of  its  fundamental  experiences.  Hence  a  duty  which  lay 
close  to  the  heart  of  every  Christian  teacher  was  that  of 
pressing  home  the  obligation  of  consistent  Christian  living. 
In  many  circles  there  would  still  be  much  confusion 
regarding  the  profounder  doctrines  of  the  faith.  Side  by 
side  with  this  immaturity  of  conviction  there  arose  men  of 
subtle  intellect  who  seized  on  special  aspects  of  the  aposto- 
lic tradition,  blended  these  with  ideas  from  Judaism  or 
Hellenism,  and  by  asserting  high  claims  of  an  esoteric 
nature  formed  sects  either  within  or  outside  the  Church. 
As  so  frequently  in  esoteric  coteries,  laxity  of  morals 
accompanied  arrogant  spiritual  pretensions.  For  these 
various  reasons  the  demand  for  an  ethical  standard  high 
above  the  average  recognised  by  pagan  sentiment  gradually 
came  to  overshadow  the  sources  of  inspiration  from  which 
alone  such  a  standard  could  be  supplied. 


(b)  Moralistic  Tendency  in  Religion 

Here  we  are  confronted  by  what  may  be  called  the 
moralistic  tendency  inherent  in  the  documents  of  our 
period.  Let  us  avoid  any  misconception  of  what  is  meant. 
No  Christian  teacher  has  ever  laid  more  drastic  emphasis 
than  the  apostle  Paul  upon  the  unity  of  religion  and  morals. 
As  uncompromisingly  as  his  Master,  he  proclaims  the 
crucial  test  for  Christians  :  '  By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know 
them.'  But  this  ethical  activity  is,  for  the  apostle,  in  the 
strict  sense,  fruit.  It  is  the  product  of  a  definite  principle 
of  life,  that  principle  which  he  calls  the  Spirit.1  If  that 
Spirit,  which  is  the  very  life  of  Christ  Himself,  operates  in 

1  See  especially  Gal.  v.  22. 
P 


226  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft. 

the  individual,  only  one  kind  of  result  can  ensue.  So 
that  for  Paul  the  a  11 -important  matter  is  to  secure  the 
free  pla}r  of  this  Divine  energy  in  the  soul  of  the  Christian. 
It  is  bound  to  express  itself  in  all  kinds  of  worthy  action. 
And  that  action  will  be  spontaneous.  From  the  point  of 
view  of  the  individual  it  will  be  inspired  by  a  sense  of 
obligation  to  Christ.  Adoring  love  and  gratitude  require 
no  compulsion. 

We  have  already  suggested  various  reasons  for  the 
accentuation  of  the  demand  for  a  good  life  in  the  Epistles 
which  we  are  studying.  Of  special  interest  is  the  manner 
in  which  this  demand  is  formulated.  Its  burden  is  the 
necessity  for  '  good  works.'  Thus,  in  2  Tim.  iii.  17  the 
purpose  of  Old  Testament  Scripture  is  described  as  that 
of  thoroughly  equipping  the  man  of  God  '  for  every  kind  of 
good  work.'  In  ii.  21  consecration  to  God  means  '  being 
prepared  for  every  kind  of  good  work.'  Widows  who  desire 
a  place  on  the  Church's  roll  must  be  c  attested  by  good 
works  '  and  have  shown  a  zealous  interest  in  them  (1  Tim. 
v.  10).  The  rich  are  charged  '  to  be  wealthy  in  good  works,' 
for  these  lay  the  foundations  of  eternal  life  in  the  world  to 
come  (vi.  18,  19).  Those  who  are  accused  of  pollution  and 
disobedience  have  as  their  supreme  condemnation  their 
'  uselessness  for  every  kind  of  good  work'  (Tit.  i.  16). 
Titus,  as  chief  overseer  of  a  Christian  community,  is  urged 
to  show  himself  to  his  younger  brethren  as  a  pattern  of 
good  works  (ii.  7).  Even  the  object  of  Christ's  redemption 
itself  is  described  as  that  of  purifying  a  people  for  Himself 
who  should  be  eager  for  good  works  (ii.  14).  The  author 
delights  to  enlarge  upon  the  theme  with  solemn  emphasis  : 
1  True  is  the  saying  (and  I  wish  you  to  insist  upon  this) 
that  those  who  have  come  to  believe  in  God  must  give 
diligent  attention  to  good  works  :  !  this  is  good  and  useful 
for  men'  (iii.  8).  It  is  impossible  in  examining  these 
passages  in  the  light  of  their  context  1<>  avoid  the  im- 
pression thai  good  works  constitute  the  special  badge  of 

1  Not  'prof em  honed  occupations,1  as  Ft.V.  mg.  and  Moffat t  The 
whole  tone  of  the  Epistle  demands  the  translation  in  the  text. 


in.]    THEOLOGY  OF  THE  DEVELOPING  CHURCH   227 

the  Christian,  and  have  to  be  urged  upon  him,  very  much 
as  the  observance  of  the  Law  was  urged  in  Judaism. 

Specially  instructive  is  the  well-known  definition  of 
religion  in  James  i.  27  as  '  visiting  orphans  and  widows  in 
their  distress,  and  keeping  one's  self  unspotted  from  the 
world.'  This  as  pure  religion  is  contrasted  with  the  futile 
religion  of  the  man  who  cannot  bridle  his  tongue.  And 
its  significance  for  the  author  is  more  fully  brought  out 
by  the  famous  discussion  of  Faith  and  [good]  Works 
(James  ii.  14-26).  It  is  needless  for  our  purpose  to  inquire 
whether  the  passage  contains  a  polemic  against  Paul's 
doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  alone.  What  is  im- 
portant to  note  is  that  the  writer  sharply  controverts  a 
faith  which  is  little  more  than  the  assent  to  a  creed  (ii.  19), 
a  faith  which  need  not  have  any  relation  to  conduct  at  all. 
Well  may  he  describe  such  a  faith  as  '  inherently  lifeless  ' 
(ii.  17).  The  whole  section  illuminates  the  religious  atmo- 
sphere of  the  post-Pauline  epoch.  It  would,  of  course,  be 
rash  to  generalise  from  particular  instances  like  this.  But 
the  same  tendency  is  attested  somewhat  later  in  such  a 
statement  as  Hermas,  Mandat.  x.  i.  4,  which  speaks  of 
'  those  who  have  never  searched  into  the  truth,  nor  investi- 
gated the  Divine  nature,  but  have  only  believed  (mo-Ttv- 
<raiT€§  Si  /ioi'ov),  and  have  got  mixed  up  with  business 
and  wealth  and  heathen  friendships.'  These  examples  are 
sufficient  to  show  the  necessity  of  injunctions  bearing 
directly  upon  Christian  practice.1  It  is  true  that  Divine 
grace  still  forms  the  presupposition  of  the  Christian  fife 
(e.g.  James  i.  18) .  But  it  has  to  be  reinforced  by  good  works, 
and  these  supply  material  for  the  final  verdict  of  God.2 
Obviously,  when  the  original  inspiration  of  the  Spirit  is 
lacking,  increasing  importance  will  be  attached  to  the 
keeping  of  the  commandments  of  God,  the  rendering  of 
adequate  service,  an  idea  common  to  Judaism  with  the 
reformed  Stoicism  of  the  period.     Hence  the  cleft  becomes 

1  Moffatt  (op.  cit.,  p.  464)  instructively  points  out  that  in  the  108  verses 
of  the  Epistle  of  James  there  are  fifty-four  imperatives. 
8   E.g.  _'  Pet.  i.  JO,  11. 


228  THE  THEOLOGY  OJb'  THE  EPISTLES  [pt. 

gradually  wider  between  the  Pauline  conception  of  'faith 
working  through  love,'  an  energy  which  covers  the  whole 
area  of  moral  action,  and  that  more  painful  and  anxious 
attention  to  detailed  precepts  which  is  called  forth  by  a 
sense  of  spiritual  insecurity.  The  subsequent  sections  will 
illustrate  the  more  definite  forms  in  which  this  moralistic 
tendency  is  manifested. 


(c)  Thinning  oj  Redemptive  Ideas 

When  we  turn  from  the  earlier  Epistles,  and  especially 
those  of  Paul,  to  the  Theology  of  the  Developing  Church, 
perhaps  the  most  powerful  impression  made  upon  us  is 
a  sense  of  what  may  be  called  the  thinning  of  redemp- 
tive ideas,  of  the  great  conceptions  formulated  to  express 
the  experience  of  salvation.  Certain  central  features  in 
Paul's  religious  thought  are  either  conspicuously  lacking, 
or  are  handled  without  confidence.  Reconciliation  with 
God,  death  to  sin  and  resurrection  to  newness  of  life  in 
Christ  crucified  and  risen,  union  with  Christ  by  faith, 
possession  of  the  Spirit  of  sonship  as  the  pledge  of  eternal 
life  and  the  source  of  unhampered  spiritual  energy — these 
splendid  convictions  of  the  earlier  time  are  barely  recog- 
nised. There  is  an  evident  loss  of  inwardness  and  freedom. 
The  need  for  authoritative  guidance  is  paramount.  A 
lower  level  of  Christian  experience  has  to  be  reckoned 
with.  It  would  be  going  too  far  to  say  that  Paul  is  no 
longer  clearh7  understood.  The  recognition  of  the  grace  ot 
God,  for  example,  as  fundamental  in  salvation  still  hold* 
good.1  The  forgiveness  of  sin  is  still  felt  to  be  an  integral 
element  in  the  spiritual  history  of  the  Christian.2  But 
•  hanged  conditions  and  circumstances  have  si  lifted  the 
points  of  emphasis.  The  tremendous  controversy  between 
legalism  and  spiritual  freedom,  which  set  Paul's  soul  on 
fire  and  struck  out  his  wonderful  conceptions  glowing  with 

1  Cf    i  Tim.  i.    14  ;    L'  Tim.  i.  8  i    'lit.  ii.   11  |    Jude  4;    and  see  Titm? 

ulg&re  Atochauung  run  d-r  Seligkeit,  pp.  161,  lyi. 
■  h'.u.  2  Pet.  i.  9  ;    l  Tina   L  Ifi  •   Tit.  ii.  14. 


in.]    THEOLOGY  OF  THE  DEVELOPING  CHURCH   229 

the  white  heat  of  inspiration,  has  long  since  become  a  spent 
force.  The  creative  energy  of  the  first  missionary  period 
has  yielded  to  the  careful  organising  efforts  of  the  second 
and  third  generations.  Jewish  and  Hellenistic  influences 
have  asserted  their  power,  not  merely  through  natural 
environment,  but  by  the  medium  of  multitudes  of  converts 
who  have  carried  former  presuppositions  and  tendencies 
into  their  new  spiritual  home.  Above  all,  the  necessity 
has  arisen  of  resisting  that  indifference  to  moral  obligations 
which  besets  those  who  have  shaken  themselves  loose  from 
traditional  standards  of  law  and  custom  and  have  entered 
a  realm  in  which  the  love  and  grace  of  God  are  supremely 
exalted. 

Let  us  examine  some  typically  Pauline  and  early 
Christian  ideas  in  their  new  setting.  For  Paul,  as  we  know, 
faith  meant  complete  surrender  of  the  whole  being  to 
Jesus  Christ,  who  had  loved  men  and  given  Himself  for 
them.  As  such,  it  brought  into  play  every  energy  of  the 
soul,  and  established  a  contact  of  all  with  the  Divine  life 
in  Christ.  Thus,  on  the  human  side,  it  constitutes  the 
fundamental  attitude  in  salvation.  And  all  God's  saving 
gifts  are  received  by  faith.  But  as  soon  as  the  experience 
of  Christ  becomes  less  rich  and  profound,  as  soon  as  a 
traditional  element  begins  to  be  influential  in  Christianity, 
faith  is  apt  to  pass  over  into  the  sense  of  an  acceptance  of 
the  truth  of  the  Gospel,  an  assent  to  the  testimony  borne 
by  the  apostles  to  Christ,  and  even  more  generally  the 
belief  that  God  will  do  as  He  has  said.  The  deeper 
significance  is  occasionally  found  in  our  Epistles.1  But 
the  other  is  much  more  common,  especially  in  that  develop- 
ment of  it  which  virtually  identifies  faith  with  the  recognised 
Christian  doctrine  of  the  Church  as  the  criterion  for  all  its 
members.2    So  it  becomes  a  synonym  for  orthodox  belief.3 

1  E.g.  1  Tim.  i.  16  ;    2  Tim.  i.  12,  iii.  15. 

*  E.g.  1  Tim.  i.  19,  iii.  9,  iv.  8,  v.  8  ;  2  Tim.  iii.  8,  iv.  7  ;  Tit.  i.  13,  ii.  2  ; 
Jude  3. 

*  See  the  preceding  examples.  Very  instructive  is  the  fact  that  in  the 
documents  under  review  the  verb  '  to  believe  '  (■mcrTevzi.v),  denoting  the 
personal  relation  to  Christ,  and  central  in  Paul,  the  Synoptics,  and  the 
Johannine  literature,  is  scarcely  found  at  all. 


230  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft. 

But  such  belief  may  become  a  mere  empty  profession. 
Hence  the  possibility  of  the  arresting  statement  in  the 
Epistle  of  James  that  '  faith  without  works  is  dead ' 
(ii.  20).  Such  a  statement  would  be  inconceivable  in  Paul. 
The  later  writer  makes  it  the  theme  of  an  earnest  discussion, 
thus  indicating  the  process  through  which  the  conception 
has  passed.  Just  because  faith  is  no  longer  regarded  as 
the  vital  energy  of  the  entire  Christian  life,  good  works 
have  to  be  demanded  as  an  additional  obligation  which 
makes  up  what  may  hitherto  have  been  lacking.1  That 
explains  the  position  of  James  in  the  celebrated  passage 
referred  to,  and  illuminates  the  prominence  assigned  to 
good  works  throughout  the  literature  of  this  period. 

In  the  Epistles  of  Paul  the  first  great  result  of  faith  is 
justification.  In  the  case  of  those  who  are  willing  to 
identify  themselves  with  Christ  crucified  and  risen  in  His 
attitude  both  to  God  and  to  sin,  God,  of  His  pure  grace, 
is  ready  to  see  the  end  in  the  beginning,  and,  although  they 
are  still  frail  and  defiled,  to  accept  them  as  sons  in  Christ 
Jesus,  to  justify  or  declare  them  righteous,  and  so  give 
them  the  assurance  of  eternal  life.  Their  new  relation  to 
God  Paul  calls  righteousness,  and  that  is  also  the  designation 
of  God's  way  of  acting  towards  them.  It  may  be  said  that 
this  profound  group  of  ideas,  which  attempts  to  describe 
the  apostle's  personal  experience,  has  completely  receded 
in  the  Theology  of  the  Developing  Church.  Almost  in- 
variably righteousness  now  means  right  conduct,  an  ethi- 
cal quality  rather  than  a  religious  relationship.2  Highly 
suggestive  in  this  connection  is  2  Pet.  i.  1,  'those  who 
have  received  a  faith  of  like  value  with  ours  by  the 
righteousness  of  God,'  where  righteousness  plainly  means 
impartiality.3  There  is  one  instance  of  the  conception  of 
justification  which  recalls  the  Pauline  usage,  in  Tit.  iii.  5  ff.: 
'  Not  as  the  result  of  works  done  by  righteousness,  which 

1  W.  Bauer  (Die  katholischen  Briefe,  p.  18  f.)  compares  [gnatiut'  idea 
of  faith  and  love  as  the  two  separate  pivots  of  Ihe  Christian  life,  pointing 
out  that  the  exercise  of  love  doe.s  not  prow  out  of  faith,  hut  comes  in 
when  one  obediently  Bubnrit*  to  the  '  royal  law.' 

*  E.g.  1  Tim.  vi.   11  ;    2   run.  iii.   18 ;    Jm.  iii.   18:    2  Pet.  ii.  5. 

•  See  3igg,  ad  loc. 


ra.1    THEOLOGY  OF  THE  DEVELOPING  CHURCH   231 

we  did  ourselves,  but  according  to  his  mercy  he  saved  us, 
through  the  bath  of  regeneration  and  the  renewing  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  which  he  poured  out  upon  us  through  .  .  . 
Jesus  Christ  .  .  .  that  having  been  justified  (Sikcuw&Vtcj) 
by  His  [God's]  grace  we  might  become  heirs  according  to 
the  hope  of  eternal  life.'  This  fine  passage,  which  almost 
stands  alone,  echoes  Paul's  phraseology.1  Yet  there  is  no 
mention  here  of  faith,  which  is  the  very  nerve  of  Paul's 
position.  And  the  prominence  given  to  the  bath  of  regenera- 
tion points  to  the  development  of  Catholic  doctrine.  The 
use  of  '  justify  '  in  the  Epistle  of  James  (ii.  21,  24,  25)  is 
typical  of  the  period.  Paul's  daring  religious  paradox  as  to 
the  justification  of  the  ungodly  is  no  longer  appreciated. 
The  man  is  now  said  to  be  justified  who  cammends  himself 
as  a  Christian  by  obeying  the  revealed  will  of  God  in  a  life 
of  worthy  activity. 

It  is  impossible  in  Paul's  teaching  to  distinguish  sharply 
between  justification  and  forgiveness.  The  latter  is  im- 
plied in  the  former,  and  both  are  intimately  associated 
with  the  death  of  Christ.  There  is  no  reference  to  this 
normative  idea  even  in  the  unique  passage  quoted  above. 
Hence  we  are  not  surprised  to  find  that  when  forgiveness  is 
mentioned  (James  v.  15,  20),  its  affinity  is  closer  to  Jewish 
than  to  distinctive  Christian  conceptions.  Indeed  the 
whole  view  of  salvation  which  meets  us  in  this  epoch 
lacks  the  freshness  of  profound  experience.  Terms  are 
used  which  remind  us  that  Paul's  teaching  and  that  of 
the  early  apostolic  Church  are  still  influential.  But  the 
significance  of  such  a  passage  as  Tit.  ii.  14,  '  Who  gave 
himself  for  us  that  he  might  redeem  (XvTp6<rqTai)  us  from 
all  iniquity  (avofxtas)  and  purify  for  himself  a  people  to 
be  his  possession  (Xabv  7r*/noro-ioi),'  must  be  estimated 
in  the  light  of  the  fact  that  its  most  important  phrases 
are  derived  from  the  Old  Testament.2  The  ideas,  when 
examined  in  their  context,  have  a  somewhat  stereotyped 

1  Moffatt   places   these   verses   in   inverted    commas,    legarding    them, 
probably  with  justice,  as  a  doctrinal  statement  current  in  the  Church. 
a  Ps.  cxxx.  8  (LXX)  :    Exod.  xix.  5  (LXX). 


232  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt. 

character.1  They  are  accepted  as  authoritative  doctrines, 
but  their  full  force  is  scarcely  appreciated.  Even  as  they 
stand  they  suggest  that  redemption  is  viewed  not  primarily 
as  deliverance  from  that  guilt  which  is  attested  by  a  bad 
conscience,  but  rather  as  the  spring  of  moral  renewal. 
This  aspect  is  clearly  visible  in  Tit.  ii.  14.  Hence  no 
special  emphasis  is  laid  upon  the  inner  meaning  of  Christ's 
death  and  resurrection.  We  have  nothing  here  corre- 
sponding, e.g.,  to  Rom.  iv.  25.  The  purification  achieved 
by  Christ  is  regarded  as  bringing  into  activity  certain 
Christian  virtues.2  These  qualities,  in  their  turn,  form 
the  basis  of  security  for  the  eternal  future.3  Even  the 
Divine  calling  requires  them,  if  it  is  to  be  stable  and  sure. 
Nothing,  however,  more  plainly  indicates  the  change  of 
atmosphere  revealed  by  these  documents  than  the  impor- 
tant place  assigned  to  Knowledge.  In  a  large  number  of 
passages  it  is  synonymous  with  salvation.  It  would  be 
hazardous  to  lay  the  chiel  emphasis  on  the  intellectual 
element  involved.  For  the  more  recent  investigation  of 
Hellenistic  religion  has  shown  that  knowledge  means 
constantly  spiritual  experience  of  God  and  the  unseen. 
But  the  material  with  which  we  are  occupied  again  and 
again  suggests  that  here  a  mental  apprehension  of  truth 
belongs  to  its  very  essence.  Thus,  in  1  Tim.  ii.  4,  God 
is  spoken  of  as  desiring  '  that  all  men  should  be  saved  and 
should  reach  a  knowledge  of  the  truth.'  In  2  Tim.  ii.  25 
the  object  of  repentance  is  described  as  '  knowledge  of  the 
truth.'  In  the  address  of  the  Epistle  to  Titus,  Paul's 
apostleship  is  defined  as  being  '  in  accord  with  (Kara)  4 
the  faith  of  God's  elect  and  the  knowledge  of  the  truth  that 
belongs  to  piety.'  Such  passages  of  course  presuppose  the 
existence  of  a  body  of  doctrine  which  has  come  to  be 
recognised  as  authoritative.  We  have  noted  the  geneaia 
of   this  conception.     They  also   indicate  the   impact  of  a 

»  Cf.  1  Tim.  ii.  ft,  6. 

•  This  is  mode  plain  by  the  sequence  of  thought  in  -  Pet.  '•  8-9i  a  state 
ment  very  typical  of  our  period. 

3  Bee  2  Pet.  l  10,  11. 

*  It  is  poesible  to  take  Kara  heft  a?  expressing  destination  (so  HOOatt, 
N.  J.  I).  White,  \\  iner). 


in.]    THEOLOGY  OF  THE  DEVELOPING  CHURCH   233 

mode  of  thought  characteristically  Greek  upon  early 
Christian  ideas.  Numerous  parallels  may  be  found  in  the 
sub-apostolic  literature,  as,  e.g.,  Didache  x.  2  :  '  We  thank 
thee  .  .  .  for  the  knowledge  and  faith  and  immortality 
which  thou  hast  made  known  to  us  through  thy  servant 
Jesus.'  The  sequence  of  terms  in  this  quotation  is  highly 
significant.  And  we  may  compare  2  Clement  xx.  5  :  '  The 
Saviour  and  author  of  immortality  through  whom  he  revealed 
to  us  truth  and  the  heavenly  life.'  Here  the  redemptive 
work  of  Jesus  is  viewed  primarily  as  a  revelation  to  the 
mind.  That  conception  definitely  appears  in  2  Tim.  i.  10, 
where  Jesus  is  said  to  have  '  brought  the  knowledge 
(<£(uTi<ravTos)  of  life  and  immortality  through  the  gospel.' 
Of  course  there  are  some  statements  closely  akin  to  this 
in  the  earlier  period,  as,  e.g.,  2  Cor.  iv.  6,  but  these  have  to 
be  interpreted  in  the  light  of  Paul's  central  conceptions  of 
the  significance  of  Christ's  redemption,  in  relation  to  which 
they  occupy  a  quite  subordinate  position.  The  import- 
ance of  the  function  assigned  to  the  truth  or  knowledge 
which  has  come  to  the  world  in  Jesus  may  be  illustrated 
from  our  period  by  such  statements  as  James  i.  18  :  'Of 
his  own  will  he  begat  us  by  the  word  of  truth,'  in  which 
the  instrument  of  regeneration  is  the  revelation  contained 
in  the  Gospel  rather  than  the  Spirit,1  as  in  Paul  ;  and 
2  Pet.  ii.  20,  where  '  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  and  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ '  is  that  which  saves  men  from  the  contamina- 
tion of  an  evil  world.  Obviously  the  way  is  being  rapidly 
prepared  for  that  slightly  later  phase  of  Christian  thought 
in  regard  to  which  Harnack  can  say,  '  All  that  Jesus 
Christ  brought  may  be  summed  up  as  yiwis  and  £u>7J  or 
even  as  the  knowledge  of  immortal  life  :  to  possess  complete 
knowledge  was  in  wide  circles  an  expression  for  the  sum 
and  substance  of  the  Gospel.'  2 

1  Cf.  i.  21.  A  glance  at  the  Concordance  will  show  how  extraordinarily 
the  conception  of  the  Spirit  has  fallen  into  the  background  in  our  period. 
One  obscure  use  of  the  term  occurs  in  James,  one,  referring  to  prophetic 
inspiration,  in  2  Peter.  In  the  Pastorals,  apart  from  a  prophetic  allusion 
in  1  Tim.  iv.  1,  the  only  relevant  passages  are  2  Tim.  i.  14  and  Tit.  iii.  5. 
Contrast  this  with  the  richness  of  usage  in  Paul  and  1  Peter. 

*  Dogmengeschichte,  i.  p.  123. 


234  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft. 

(d)  Prominence  of  the  Church-Consciousness  and  the 
resulting  conception  of  Piety 

At  this  point  and  in  the  light  of  the  preceding  paragraphs 
we  must  elaborate  one  or  two  general  statements  made 
in  the  opening  section  of  the  chapter.  The  phenomena 
of  our  Epistles  are  unintelligible  apart  from  a  recognition 
of  the  extraordinary  growth  of  the  Church -consciousness 
among  Christians  of  this  period.  It  lies  outside  our  pur- 
pose to  attempt  even  the  briefest  sketch  of  that  ecclesi- 
astical organisation  which  is  presupposed  in  the  documents 
before  us.  But  certain  features  stand  out  clearly.  The 
strictly  apostolic  era  is  past.  The  communities  no  longer 
depend  directly  on  the  unique  spiritual  endowment  of 
prophets  and  teachers  who  journey  from  place  to  place 
sharing  their  gifts  with  their  brethren.  This  practice  still, 
indeed,  holds  good,1  and  such  persons  continue  to  enjoy 
esteem.  But  the  wide  diffusion  of  the  faith  and  the  passing 
away  of  the  great  leaders  of  the  earlier  time  have  made 
it  essential  that  a  careful  structure  should  be  built  up 
throughout  the  Christian  society.  Already  in  Paul's  day 
the  process  has  begun.  He  knows  of  bishops  and  deacons  in 
the  Church  of  Philippi  (Phil.  i.  1).  Even  in  1  Thessalonians, 
the  earliest  of  his  letters,  he  speaks  of  '  those  who  preside 
over  you  in  the  Lord  '  (v.  12).  And  the  very  important 
list  of  functions  in  the  Church  which  he  gives  in  1  Cor.  xii.  28 
reveals  the  variety  of  capacities  which  were  at  the  disposal 
of  the  Christian  brotherhood.  His  own  attitude,  more- 
over, in  dealing  with  the  practical  needs  of  his  converts 
as  disclosed  in  that  letter,  indicates  his  sincere  interest  in 
questions  of  organisation.  But  at  that  stage  everything 
still  appears  fluid.  Now,  the  Church,  which  had  been  for 
Paul  the  Body  of  Christ,  a  mystical  fellowship,  has  become 
an  institution  managed  by  carefully  chosen  officials.2 
Strict  rules  are  laid  down  for  the  appointment  of  bishops 
and  deacons.     We  hear  of  ordination  at  the  hands  of  the 

1  See  Didache.  chaps,  xi.-xiii. 
■  E.g.  1  Tim.  Hi.  l-fi  ;   v.  3,  9,  16. 


iii.]        THEOLOGY  OF  THE  DEVELOPING  CHURCH      235 

presbytery.     Regulations  are  provided  for  the  support  of 
needy  persons  from  the  Church  funds.1 

But  above  all  else  the  Church  is  '  the  pillar  and  bulwark 
of  the  truth.'  She  is  the  guardian  of  '  the  faith  once  for 
all  delivered  to  God's  people.'  We  have  already  observed 
that  the  objective  aspect  of  faith  has  begun  to  overshadow 
the  subjective,  so  that  it  has  become  practically  equivalent 
to  '  sound  doctrine.'  2  This  conception  is  one  of  the  chief 
watchwords  of  our  documents.  Typical  is  the  warning 
of  1  Tim.  vi.  3  against  '  any  one  who  teaches  novelties 
and  refuses  to  adhere  to  the  sound  (by  ta  iv ova  a)  words  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  doctrine  that  accords  with 
piety.'  3  Such  doctrine  largely  constitutes  Christianity. 
Slaves  are  exhorted  to  prove  their  trustworthiness,  '  that 
they  may  adorn  the  doctrine  (8t8ao-KaXiav)  of  God  our 
Saviour  in  all  things'  (Tit.  ii.  10). 4  It  is  plain  that  the 
development  has  taken  this  direction  owing  to  the  emer- 
gence of  false  teaching.  The  nature  of  the  latter  must 
be  discussed  immediately.  Meanwhile,  let  us  note  the 
criterion  of  truth  and  falsehood.  The  true  doctrine  is  that 
which  has  been  handed  down  in  the  Christian  community 
from  the  apostles.  'Model  yourself,'  we  read  in  2  Tim. 
i.  13,  14,  '  on  the  sound  instruction  you  have  received  from 
me  .  .  .  guard  the  good  deposit  (TrapaOrJK-qi )  through  the 
Holy  Spirit  that  dwells  in  us.'  This  term,  '  deposit,'  is 
specially  characteristic  of  our  period.  It  occurs  also  in 
2  Tim.  i.  12  and  1  Tim.  vi.  20,  and  suggests  the  idea  of 
a  fixed  body  of  teaching  which  must  be  normative  for  the 
individual  Christian.  But  even  apart  from  so  technical  a 
phrase,  the  notion  of  an  authoritative  tradition  is  central. 
1  Be  strong  in  the  grace  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  what 
you  heard  from  me  in  presence  of  many  witnesses,  hand  on 
to  trustworthy  men,  who  shall  be  fit  to  teach  others  also.'  5 

1  E.g.  1  Tim.  iii.  2-7,  8-13  ;  Tit.  i.  7-10  ;    1  Tim.  iv.  14  ;    1  Tim.  v.  3,  16. 

2  Cf.  1  Tim.  iv.  6  :  '  trained  in  the  truths  of  the  faith  and  the  right 
doctrine  of  which  you  have  become  an  adherent  '  ;    cf.  Jude  20. 

3  Cf.  2  Tim.  iv.  3  ;   Tit.  i.  13,  ii.  1. 

4  Cf.  1  Tim.  vi.  1,  where  the  '  name  of  God  '  and  '  the  doctrine  *  are 
grouped  together  as  representing  the  content  of  Christianity. 

6  2  Tim.  ii.  1,  2.     Cf.  iii.  14;   2  Pet.  ii.  21,  iii.  2  ;  Judo  17. 


236  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt. 

Here  the  accredited  doctrine  has  been  further  attested  by 
the  Christian  community,  so  that  its  sanctions  are  inviolable.1 
It  is  hardly  necessary  to  connect  this  conception  of  a 
doctrinal  tradition  with  Jewish  usage.2  The  tendency  is 
inevitable  as  soon  as  any  religion  throws  out  a  frame-work 
of  organisation. 

Among  the  most  interesting  phenomena  of  our  Epistles 
are  the  traces  of  formulated  confessions  of  faith,  which  in 
any  case  might  be  assumed  to  be  an  accompaniment  of 
the  movement  sketched  above.  The  most  obvious  is 
that  of  1  Tim.  iii.  16  : 

'  Who  was  manifested  by  means  of  flesh, 

justified  by  means  of  Spirit, 
seen  by  the  angels, 

preached  among  the  nations, 
believed  on  in  the  world, 

received  up  into  glory.' 

It  throws  light  on  such  noteworthy  hints  as  1  Tim.  vi.  12  : 
*  Fight  the  good  fight  of  the  faith,  take  firm  hold  of  that 
life  eternal  to  which  you  were  called,  when  you  made  the 
great  confession  in  the  presence  of  many  witnesses.' 
Probably  the  reference  here  is  to  the  time  of  baptism. 
Some  phrases  in  the  very  next  verses,  '  God  the  giver  of 
life  to  all,'  and  '  Christ  Jesus  who  bore  witness  to  the  great 
confession  in  the  presence  of  Pontius  Pilate,'  sound  like 
fragments  of  liturgical  formulae.  And  these  have  perhaps 
left  their  mark  on  such  passages  as  1  Tim.  ii.  5,  6,  and 
2  Tim.  ii.  8. 

The  famous  confessional  statement  of  1  Tim.  iii.  16  is 
prefaced  by  a  sentence  highly  significant  for  the  religious 
thought  of  the  developing  Church  :  '  without  denial, 
great  is  the  mystery  revealed  to  our  piety  (cwrc/fti'af).' 
The  words  seem  primarily  intended  to  enhance  the  rever- 
ence due  to  '  the  Church  of  the  living  God  '  (ver.  15),  which 
has  had  so  precious  a  trust  committed  to  its  charge.  In- 
cidentally they  bring  out  the  special  aspect  under  which, 

1  |  f.  th.  .  onsts&t  use  of  the  phrase,  '  trustworthy  is  the  saying,'  in  the 
Pastoral  Epistle*. 

•  So  Titiue,  op.  cit.,  p.  206  f. 


ni.]   THEOLOGY  OF  THE  DEVELOPING  CHURCH   237 

in  our  period,  religion  is  regularly  viewed,  the  aspect  of 
piety  (tvo-epaa).  The  term  has  a  peculiarly  Greek  flavour, 
and  it  is  worth  noting  that  noun,  verb,  and  adjective  are 
rare  in  the  LXX,  except  in  Sirach,  which  has  many  non- 
Jewish  affinities,  and  that  they  occur  above  all  in  4  Macca- 
bees, which  is  the  most  typically  Hellenistic  work  in  the 
Pseudepigrapha  preserved  by  the  LXX.  Out  of  fifteen 
instances  of  the  noun  in  the  New  Testament,  only  one  falls 
outside  our  documents,  and  it  occurs  in  Acts,  which  has 
many  points  of  connection  with  these.  It  perhaps  retains 
something  of  that  external  tone  which  belongs  to  the 
public  religion  of  Greece.  Its  content  very  markedly 
exemplifies  the  tendencies  of  the  period.  On  the  one  hand, 
piety  has  the  most  intimate  association  with  sound  doctrine, 
the  truth  which  has  been  attested  by  the  apostles.  Thus 
the  Epistle  to  Titus  speaks  of  l  the  knowledge  of  the  truth 
that  accords  with  piety  '  (i.  L),  and  in  1  Tim.  iv.  6  ff., 
Timothy,  after  being  reminded  of  his  careful  instruction  in 
the  right  doctrine,  is  urged  to  train  himself  for  piety. 
In  vi.  3,  the  '  doctrine  that  accords  with  piety  '  is  contrasted 
with  the  teaching  which  departs  from  the  wholesome 
standard  of  the  Church.  On  the  other  hand,  piety  must 
express  itself  in  good  works  (1  Tim.  ii.  LO).1  Hence  those 
members  of  the  Christian  community  whose  conduct  is  a 
scandal  have  merely  the  form  of  piety,  and  have  renounced 
its  power  (2  Tim.  lii.  5).  Piety  is  the  regulating  force  for 
action.  To  live  righteously  and  piously  in  the  present  age 
is  the  result  of  the  discipline  brought  to  men  by  the  saving 
grace  of  God  (Tit.  ii.  12).  It  is  the  express  aim  of  that 
spiritual  endowment  which  has  been  bestowed  on  men  by 
the  Divine  power  through  the  knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ 
(2  Pet.  i.  3).  But  piety  looks  beyond  the  present.  It  also 
receives  the  pledge  of  that  eternal  life  which  will  be  fully 
realised  in  the  future  (1  Tim.  iv.  8).  Hence  it  may  be  said 
to  sum  up  Christianity  as  an  actual  torce  in  human  experi- 
ence, having   its  genesis   in    that  unadulterated  teaching 

:  See  the  previous  section.     Ihe  term  used  here  is  deotrepeta,  which  i? 
equivalent  to  ei/a^eia. 


238  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt. 

which  goes  back  to  Christ  and  has  been  handed  down  by 
His  Apostles,  and  authenticating  itself  in  a  course  of 
ethical  activity. 

(c)  Conception  of  God 

Its  conception  of  God  must  be  normative  for  every 
phase  of  religious  thought,  and  some  valuable  light  from 
this  direction  is  thrown  upon  the  period  with  which  we 
are  dealing.  Here,  as  in  many  other  sections  of  our 
inquiry,  we  need  not  expect  to  find  the  outlines  of  the  idea 
so  clearly  marked  as  to  reveal  at  a  glance  the  features  in 
which  they  differ,  say,  from  the  Pauline  conception.  We 
must  be  content  rather  with  hints  and  impressions.  It  is 
true  that  in  our  documents  there  are  one  or  two  important 
descriptions  of  the  nature  of  God,1  but  the  value  of  these 
for  our  purpose  is  slightly  discounted  by  the  fact  that  they 
evidently  belong  to  liturgical  formulae  which  had  taken 
6hape  in  the  Church.  Still,  they  express  beliefs  widely 
current,  and  it  may  be  possible  at  times  to  recognise  the 
forces  which  have  produced  them. 

To  begin  with,  the  view  of  God  exhibited  in  this  post- 
Pauline  literature  is  to  a  real  extent  determined  by  the 
missionary  aim  of  the  Church.  In  contrast  with  the 
religious  ideas  of  its  heathen  environment,  it  sets  in  bold 
relief,  as  Paul  has  also  done,  and  as  was  customary  with  the 
propaganda  of  Hellenistic  Judaism,  the  thought  of  God  as 
the  One,  the  Living,  and  the  Creator  of  all  things.2  In 
His  supreme  majesty  He  is  immortal,  dwelling  in  light 
unapproachable,  the  Father  of  the  heavenly  lights  who 
knows  no  change  of  rising  and  setting,  invisible  to  mortal 
eyes,  the  King  of  Kings  and  Lord  of  Lords.3  Affinities 
may  be  found  for  certain  of  these  predicates  in  the  Old 
Testament,4  and  perhaps  they  are  derived  from  Judaism. 

1    1  Tim.  i.  17,  vi.  15,  16,  possibly  Tit.  iii.  4.  5. 

1  1  Tin,,  i.  17,  ii.  5,  vi.  Ifi  ;  Jas.  iv.  12  ;  Jude  25  ;  I  Tim.  iii.  15,  iv.  10, 
vi.  16  :    1  Tim.  vi.   13,  iv.  3.  4  ;    J.ik.  i.  17,  18  ;    2  Pet.  iii.  5. 

»  1  Tfan.  i.  17,  vi.  16<*  ;  1  Tim.  vi.  166;  Jan.  i.  17  (M.);  1  Tim.  i.  17, 
vi.  16  ;    I  Tim.  \  i.  1 5. 

*  Peine  <<>p.  oft.,  p.  541)  compare!  Deut.  x.  17  (LXX),  Pa.  exxxvi.  3 
(LXX)  with  l  Tim.  vi.  15  and  P».  oiv.  2    l.XXi  with  vl  16. 


in.]    THEOLOGY  OF  THE  DEVELOPING  CHURCH   239 

But  there  is  some  ground  for  supposing  that  they  are 
emphasised  in  view  of  those  Gnostic  tendencies  which  had 
now  begun  to  disturb  the  Church.  The  prominence  as- 
signed to  Christ  as  sole  Mediator  between  God  and  men 
(1  Tim.  ii.  5)  gives  colour  to  the  significance  of  this  back- 
ground. 

It  is  quite  possible  that  the  interesting  reference 
to  the  light  which  encircles  God  has  regard  to  Gnostic 
speculations  on  dark  and  malevolent  powers.  God  casts 
no  shadow,  and  is  the  source  of  those  heavenly  bodies 
(Jas.  i.  17)  to  whose  influence  so  high  a  place  was  ascribed 
in  the  religious  syncretism  of  the  time.  To  a  similar 
reason  may  be  due  the  importance  attached  to  the  creative 
activity  of  God.  We  know  that  in  Gnostic  theories  a 
distinction  was  drawn  between  the  supreme  God,  the 
Father  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  Creator,  who  is  an  inferior 
deity  as  responsible  for  the  evil  world  of  matter.  '  Every- 
thing created  by  God  is  good,'  says  1  Tim.  iv.  4.  Only 
good  gifts  come  down  from  above  (Jas.  i.  17).  Hence  the 
remarkable  description  of  God  in  the  Pastorals  and  Jude 
as  Saviour  ((rwnjp).1  The  God  of  creation  is  also  the  God 
of  redemption.  With  the  exception  of  Luke  i.  47,  which 
echoes  Old  Testament  hymns  of  praise,  and  the  documents 
before  us,  the  title  '  Saviour '  is  invariably  given  in  the 
New  Testament  to  Christ.  But  the  LXX  frequently 
employs  this  term  to  translate  two  Hebrew  words  for 
salvation,  when  used  (especially  in  the  Psalms)  as  de- 
scriptions of  God.  We  must  not  therefore  ignore  this  Old 
Testament  usage,  while,  at  the  same  time,  recognising  that 
1  Saviour '  had  become  a  prominent  term  in  Hellenistic 
religion,  more  particularly  in  those  phases  of  it  which  strove 
to  meet  the  prevalent  yearning  for  redemption.  The 
important  point  in  the  present  connection  is  that  God, 
who  is  Himself  the  blessed  (1  Tim.  vi.  15),2  is  the  source  of 
all  blessedness,  the   ultimate  author  of  salvation.     Not 

1  1  Tim.  i.  1,  ii.  3,  iv.  10 ;   Tit.  i.  3,  ii.  10,  iii.  4  ;   Jude  25. 

*  Holtzmann  (op.  cit.,  ii.  p.  299)  cnlls  this  tho  Christian  application  of 

the  Greek  phrase,  ud.vapcj  deoi,  'the  blessed  gocls.' 


240  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES      - 

only  is  this  highest  of  all  the  Divine  functions  expressed 
by  the  title  Saviour,  but  mention  is  made  of  '  the  grace  of 
God  fraught  with  salvation,'  of  '  the  graciousness  and  kind- 
ness of  God,'  of  His  '  pity,'  of  His  desire  for  the  salvation 
of  all  men.1  In  this  crucial  matter  the  theology  of  the 
developing  Church  maintains  inviolate  the  position  of  the 
earlier  days. 

All  the  more  noteworthy  is  the  somewhat  colourless  use 
made  of  the  profound  conception  of  the  Fatherhood  of  God. 
At  no  point  has  Paul  more  completely  grasped  the  thought 
of  Jesus  than  at  this,  and  from  beginning  to  end  his 
Epistles  thrill  with  wonder  and  adoration  as  he  sets 
forth  the  glory  of  Christian  sonship.  Very  rarely  is  God 
designated  '  Father '  in  our  documents,2  and  the  name 
is  more  or  less  formal,  as  in  the  stereotyped  epistolary 
address  (1  Tim.  i.  2  ;  2  Tim.  i.  2  ;  Tit.  i.  4).  As  constantly 
in  the  Apostolic  Fathers,  it  is  found  in  2  Pet.  i.  17  in  corre- 
spondence with  a  statement  regarding  the  Son.  The  usage 
of  James  is  also  instructive  as  revealing  the  intimate  con- 
nection of  thought  between  this  stratum  of  Christian 
literature  and  the  contemporary  non-canonical  books. 
In  i.  27  and  iii.  9,  the  title  '  Father  '  appended  to  the  Divine 
name  seems  little  more  than  an  element  in  the  traditional 
designation  current  in  the  Church.  But  when  (i.  17)  he 
calls  God  '  the  Father  of  the  heavenly  lights,'  he  shows 
that  already  the  idea  of  Fatherhood  was  being  identified 
with  that  of  Creation.  This  identification  appears  con- 
tinually in  Philo,  and  notably  in  1  Clement,  who  speaks  of 
'  the  Creator  and  Father  of  the  ages  '  (xxxv.  3),  and  of 
the  'Father  and  framer  of  the  entire  universe'  (xix.  2). 
These  phenomena  indicate  that  the  intimacy  of  that  view 
of  God  which  Paul  had  learned  from  Jesus  was,  in  spite  of 
the  recognition  of  the  Divine  grace  in  salvation,  giving 
j}lace  to  a  more  detached  conception,  which,  in  the  sub- 
apostolic    epoch,    finds    characteristic    expression    in    the 

1  Tit.  ii.  11,  iii.  4  ;  1  Tim.  i.  2;  2  Tim.  i.  2  ;  Tit.  iii.  5  ;  Jude  2  ;  1  Tim. 
ii.  4,  iv.  10;    2  Pet.  iii.  '.». 

*  Once  in  each  of  the  1'a.storals,  2  Peter,  an. I  . I  iule,  ami  thrice  in  ,1 


m.l    THEOLOGY  OF  THE  DEVELOPING  CHURCH   241 

term   'ruler'   (oWttot^s),1  Clement's  favourite  designation 
of  God. 

(/)  The  Law  of  Liberty 

We  have  observed  that  in  the  period  under  review  '  good 
works  '  may  almost  be  called  the  badge  of  a  Christian 
career.  But  the  interesting  question  emerges  :  How  is  a 
Christian  convert  to  know  what  will  satisfy  the  require- 
ments ?  What  precisely  is  to  constitute  the  standard  of 
his  new  activity  ?  It  has  already  become  clear  that  a 
certain  body  of  teaching,  authenticated  by  the  leaders  of 
the  Church,  was  recognised  as  the  test  of  an  adequate 
Christianity,  of  that  piety  which  embraced  both  doctrine 
and  conduct.  But  it  was  easier,  probably,  to  agree  upon 
a  general  confession  of  faith  than  to  give  authoritative 
directions  for  the  complex  situation  which  must  confront 
immature  members  of  the  Christian  society  in  their  daily 
duties.  In  the  earlier  days,  the  enthusiasm  of  the  new 
life  in  Christ  would  overcome  many  difficulties  by  means 
of  its  inherent  vigour.  As  the  Church  settled  down  into 
the  forms  of  an  organised  institution,  a  more  stereotyped 
condition  of  things  must  inevitably  arise.  The  originality 
of  a  decisive  Christian  experience  would  frequently  be 
lacking.  The  sense  of  a  need  of  definite  training  in  morality 
would  be  enhanced.  But  those  who  had  entered  the  Church 
from  Judaism,  in  the  Diaspora  as  well  as  in  Palestine, 
brought  with  them  the  tradition  of  such  a  training,  and  so 
did  the  many  proselytes  from  heathenism  who  came  to 
Christianity  by  way  of  the  synagogue.  They  were  all 
imbued  with  the  idea  of  a  rule  of  life  embodied  in  that 
moral  Law  which  was  the  revelation  of  the  will  of  God. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  ethical  revival  which  was  operating 
in  the  Hellenistic -Roman  world  had  as  its  chief  watchword, 
'  conformity  to  law,  whether  the  law  of  nature  or  the  law 
of  God.'  2  Now,  in  proportion  as  the  profound  ideas  of 
the  Gospel  shaped  by  the  rich  and  unique  experience  of 

1  In  these  post-Pauline  writings  it  is  not  applied  to  God,  but,  what  is 
more  remarkable,  in  two  passages  (Jude  4,  2  Pet.  ii.  1)  to  Christ. 

2  M'Giffert,  Christianity  in  the  Apostolic  Age,  p.  450. 

Q 


114:2  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft. 

PauJ  were  less  securely  grasped  in  the  Christian  com- 
munity, and  the  founding  of  faith  in  living  fellowship  with 
Christ  and  the  outworking  of  its  energies  as  the  product 
of  an  inner  Divine  life  in  the  soul  became  obscured  to 
the  average  mind,  the  conception  of  a  definite  code  of 
precepts  was  bound  to  assert  its  influence. 

The  claims  of  the  ritual  side  of  the  Law  were  no  longer 
dominant.  Its  moral  injunctions  alone  were  in  question, 
but  forces  had  been  operative  even  in  the  earliest  phase  of 
the  Christian  society  which  might  easily  raise  these  in- 
junctions to  a  controlling  place  in  its  later  development. 
To  minds  disciplined  by  a  legal  system,  the  fresh  and,  in 
many  aspects,  revolutionary  interpretation  of  it  given  by 
Jesus  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  might  well  appear  the 
promulgation  of  a  new  Law  for  the  Messianic  community. 
There  can  be  little  doubt  that  this  was  the  actual  position 
taken  in  the  Mother -Church  at  Jerusalem.  Ordinances 
which  Jesus  had  not  dealt  with  retained  their  validity, 
even  although  these  were  in  real  conflict  with  the  prin- 
ciples He  had  enunciated.  It  required  Paul's  marvellous 
spiritual  intuition  to  discern  the  perilous  issues  which 
such  an  attitude  involved.  He  it  was  who  rescued  the 
Christian  mission  from  the  bondage  of  Jewish  legalism.  But 
he  himself  recognised  the  necessity  of  a  moral  standard. 
And  we  have  an  instructive  example  of  his  teaching  on  the 
subject  in  Gal.  v.  14  :  '  The  whole  law  is  fulfilled  in  one 
saying,  namely  this  :  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as 
thyself.'  Here,  as  alwa}^,  he  identifies  himself  with  the 
teaching  of  Jesus  in  Mark  xii.  28-31.  It  may  therefore  be 
taken  for  granted  that  Jesus'  restatement  of  the  earlier 
ethical  code  continued  to  have  absolute  authority  in  the 
expanding  Church.  Now  as  the  memory  of  Paul's  burning 
controversy  with  his  Jewish -Christian  brethren  faded, 
the  prejudice  roused  against  the  Jewish  Law  in  many 
heathen-Christian  communities  would  disappear.  In  typi- 
cally Jewish  sections  it  had  never  existed.  Hence,  not 
only  the  tradition  of  Jesus'  ethical  principles  but  the  moral 
code   of   Judaism    must    soon    have   asserted    its    claims. 


iii.]        THEOLOGY  OF  THE  DEVELOPING  CHURCH      m 

Appeal  could  be  made  to  Paul  himself  in  such  statements 
as  Rom.  vii.  12  :  '  The  law  is  holy,  and  the  commandment 
holy  and  righteous  and  good.'  Yet  a  very  interesting 
instance  of  the  position  adopted  in  our  period,  which  occurs 
in  1  Tim.  i.  5  ff.,  shows  that  the  acknowledgment  of  the 
Law  meant  something  different  from  that  of  the  earlier 
time.  '  The  aim  of  the  Christian  discipline  is  the  love 
that  springs  from  a  pure  heart,  from  a  good  conscience, 
and  from  a  sincere  faith.  Certain  individuals  have  failed 
here  by  turning  to  empty  argument :  doctors  of  the  Law 
is  what  they  want  to  be.  .  .  .  Now  I  am  quite  aware  that 
"  the  Law  is  admirable  "  provided  that  one  makes  a  lawful 
use  of  it :  he  must  keep  in  view  that  no  law  is  ever  made 
for  honest  people,  but  for  the  lawless  and  the  insubordinate, 
for  the  impious  and  the  sinful.'  *  This  is  essentially  Paul's 
view,  and  can  in  no  real  sense  be  called  legalism. 

Perhaps  the  standpoint  of  the  Epistle  of  James  indicates 
a  somewhat  closer  approximation  to  the  Judaistic  position. 
James  virtually  describes  the  content  of  the  Christian 
message  as  '  the  perfect  law,  the  law  of  freedom  '"  (i.  25), 
and  the  context  shows  that  the  claim  of  compassion  is 
chiefly  before  his  thoughts.  The  injunction,  '  Thou  shalt 
love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself,'  he  describes  as  the  '  royal 
{i.e.  supreme)  law.'  2  After  emphasising  the  danger  of  an 
inadequate  standard  of  conduct,  he  reminds  his  readers 
that  they  are  to  be  judged  by  '  the  law  of  freedom  '  (ii.  12), 
and  as  an  example  of  what  he  means,  he  refers  to  the 
obligation  of  kindness :  '  The  judgment  will  have  no  mere}' 
on  the  man  who  showed  none,  whereas  the  merciful  spirit 
will  triumph  in  the  face  of  judgment '  (ii.  13,  partly  M.). 
And  then  he  proceeds  to  challenge  a  conception  of  faith 
which  fails  in  deeds  of  loving  service.  Primarily  these 
passages  show  that  his  mind  is  saturated  with  Jesus* 
teaching  on  love.3    While  he  describes  the  obligation  of 

1  So  Dr.  Moffatt  admirably  translates  the  passage. 

8  ii.  8  :  plainly,  like  Paul  in  Gal.  v.  14.  he  has  in  view  the  teaching  of 
Je?us  in  Mark  xii.  31,  Matt.  xxii.  40. 

a  Ci.  iv.  11,  12,  where  the  Law  is  associated  with  ttke  very  saiot  circic 
of  ideas. 


244  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt. 

love  as  a  '  law,'  he  deliberately  sets  in  the  forefront  the 
spirit  of  freedom  and  spontaneity  with  which  it  is  fulfilled, 
taking  for  granted  that  the  Christian  has  inwardly  iden- 
tified himself  with  its  principles,  so  that,  as  the  Epistle 
of  Barnabas  strikingly  expresses  it,  '  the  new  law  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  freed  from  the  yoke  of  compulsion ' 
(ii.  6).  Nevertheless  in  such  an  atmosphere  as  that  of  the 
close  of  the  apostolic  and  the  beginning  of  the  sub -apostolic 
age,  when  the  Church  was  confronted  by  a  definitely 
antinomian  movement,  larger  conceptions  of  the  Law 
like  that  of  James  and  Barnabas  were  bound  to  give  place 
to  something  more  formal  and  restricted.  It  is  interesting, 
indeed,  to  notice  that  the  writers  with  whom  we  are  con- 
cerned prefer,  as  a  rule,  to  speak  of  '  commandment,'  * 
perhaps  to  avoid  confusion  with  the  Mosaic  Law.  But  as 
soon  as  the  idea  of  keeping  commandments  begins  to 
overshadow  the  spontaneity  of  a  spiritual  life  which  receives 
its  ethical  impulses  from  its  relation  to  Christ,  the  way  is 
prepared  for  that  new  legalism  of  which  we  have  so 
significant  an  example  in  the  first  ten  chapters  of  the 
Didache. 

(g)  Eschatological  Outlook 

It  would  be  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  in  the  religious 
thought  of  the  developing  Church  salvation  is  regarded  as 
the  reward  of  obedience  to  the  Divine  commandments. 
We  have  seen  that  it  continues  to  be  viewed  under  its 
Pauline  aspect  as  a  gift  of  God's  loving-kindness.  Yet  the 
tendency  to  such  a  position  appears  1  ere  and  there,  e.g. 
2  Pet.  i.  10,  11  :  2  'If  you  exercise  these  qualities,  you 
cannot  stumble  :  rather  will  you  be  nchly  furnished  with 
the  right  of  entrance  into  the  eternal  kingdom  of  our  Lord 
and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.'  The  words  remind  us  that  the 
gaze  of  these  Christians  was  eagerly  turned  towards  the 
future,  in  which  eternal  life  and  blessedness  awaited  them. 
No  wonder  that  their  leaders  urged  them  to  make  sure 
of  the  high  vocation  to  which  they  had  been  called. 

1   E.g.  1  Tirn.  vi.  14  ;    2  Pet.  ii.  21.  «  Cf.  1  Tim.  vi.  14. 


m.]    THEOLOGY  OF  THE  DEVELOPING  CHURCH   245 

Their  predominant  conception  of  salvation  may  be 
described  as  Eternal  Life.  The  idea  is  familiar  from  the 
letters  of  Paul.  There  it  appears  with  a  rich  variety  of 
content,  always  closely  associated  with  the  possession  of 
the  Spirit  or  the  indwelling  of  Christ  in  the  soul.  For 
Paul  too  the  conception  has  a  strongly  eschatological 
character,  which  accords  with  the  entire  trend  of  his 
religious  thought.  But  his  personal  history  has  re-shaped 
the  idea,  which  was  already  current  in  Jewish  escha- 
tology,  in  the  direction  of  laying  marked  emphasis  upon 
it  as  a  present  experience  known  and  enjoyed,  whose 
consummation  belongs  to  the  final  establishment  of  the 
Kingdom  of  God.  An  examination  of  the  usage  in  our 
documents  shows  that  for  them  the  eschatological  aspect 
of  Eternal  Life  is  paramount.  Sometimes  it  is  described  as 
a  hope  and  a  promise.  Sometimes  the  picture  is  that  of  a 
prize  awarded  to  the  victor  in  a  hard  contest.  Again, 
it  is  the  goal  of  faith  and  patience.  And  once,  as  synony- 
mous with  immortality,  it  is  declared  to  be  the  content  of 
that  good  news  which  has  been  brought  by  Christ,  the 
conqueror  of  death.1  The  more  closely  these  Epistles  are 
investigated,  the  more  deeply  embedded  in  their  sub- 
stance does  this  conviction  appear  to  be.  Here  we  have 
the  embodiment  of  the  central  faith  of  the  universal  Church. 
Perhaps  its  most  prominent  element  is  now  that  of  immor- 
tality. This  feature  is  emphasised,  even  where  there  is 
no  specific  mention  of  eternal  life,  as,  e.g.,  when  2  Peter 
speaks  of  God's  '  exceeding  great  and  precious  promises ' 
by  which  men  '  may  become  partakers  of  the  Divine  nature, 
escaping  the  destruction  created  in  the  world  by  lust '  (i.  4) 
And  its  atmosphere  is  '  eternal  glory  '  (2  Tim.  ii.  10).  The 
kinship  with  Paul's  thought  is  evident.  Only,  the  con- 
ception is  presented  in  a  more  superficial  form,  and  lacks 
that  profound  sense  of  contrast  with  the  old,  sin-burdened 
nature  which  has  been  vanquished  in  the  power  of  the 
living  and  life  -giving  Lord. 

1  Tit.  i.  2,  iii.  7  ;    2  Tim.  i.  1,  1  Tim.  iv.  8  ;   Jas.  i.  12,  1  Tim.  vi.  12; 
1  Tim.  i.  16,  Jude  21  ;    2  Tim.  i.  10. 


246  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  |pt. 

In  discussing  the  theology  of  Paul,  we  found  that  the 
expectation  of  the  return  of  Christ  formed  a  permanent 
part  of  his  eschatological  picture.  It  was  based,  as  was 
then  pointed  out,  partly  on  the  tradition  of  the  Master's 
teaching,  partly  on  the  prophetic  and  apocalyptic  forecasts 
of  the  coming  of  Messiah.  In  the  earlier  Pauline  Epistles 
it  stands  in  the  forefront.  Later,  while  always  recognised, 
it  remains  side  by  side  with  convictions  as  to  the  experience 
of  the  Christian  soul  after  death  which  are  really  independent 
of  it.  That  is  to  say,  the  Parousia,  the  resurrection,  and 
the  judgment  continue  to  be  grouped  together  as  the  great 
crisis  of  the  end,  but  the  deeper  currents  of  Paul's  spiritual 
life  seem  to  demand  a  more  immediate  relation  of  the  soul 
to  Christ,  to  be  realised  as  soon  as  the  hampering  conditions 
of  the  body  are  removed.1  A  similar  variation  of  emphasis 
appears  in  the  thought  of  the  developing  Church.  Every- 
where the  Messianic  eschatology  survives.  An  incidental 
evidence  is,  perhaps,  the  constant  use  of  the  term  '  arrival ' 
(napovo-iu)  to  denote  the  return  of  Christ.2  Here  attention 
is  called,  not  so  much  to  the  second  advent  of  the  historical 
Jesus,  as  to  the  advent  in  glory  and  power  of  the  Messiah,3 
an  expectation  which  is,  of  course,  pledged  by  the  redemp- 
tive career  of  Jesus.  Hence  no  forecast  of  the  End  can 
dispense  with  the  conception  of  the  Parousia.  Further, 
the  conviction  is  general  that  Christians  are  living  in  '  the 
last  days.'  4  But  the  relation  of  the  close  of  the  age  to 
the  return  of  Christ  is  variously  conceived.  There  can 
be  little  question  that  the  pressure  of  trial  and  temptation 
intensifies  expectancy.  Thus  James  can  urge  his  brethren 
to  be  patient  and  to  strengthen  their  hearts,  '  for  the 
arrival  of  the  Lord  is  near  '  (v.  8).  In  the  Pastorals  the 
outlook  is  less  definite.  First  Timothy  speaks  of  k  the 
appearance  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  which  that  blessed 

1  See  especially  Phil.  i.  23  ;    2  Cor.  v.  8. 

1  Jas.  v.  7,  8  ;   2  Pet.  i.  16,  iii.  4.  1 2.     The  Pastoral  Epistles  prefer  tin* 
typically    Hellenistic    term,    rVt^dveta,    'manifestation,     'appeal 
which  is  really  identical  in  cleaning. 

:  James  ipeaka  ->i  'our  Lord  Jestu  Christ,  \\ix>  is  the  dory'  (ii.  1). 
i  hi    w  hole  question,  Til  ius,  i  p.  cit.,  p.  'i  1. 

*  2  Tun.  in.  l  ;  Jus.  v.  :s ;   i'  Pet.  iii.  3  ;  Jude  is. 


in.]    THEOLOGY  OF  THE  DEVELOPING  CHURCH   247 

and  only  Sovereign  will  disclose  at  his  own  time  '  (vi.  U,  15). 
Here,  without  any  speculation  or  feverish  eagerness,  the 
future  is  left  in  God's  hands,  while  the  Church  is  encouraged 
to  go  on  with  its  work  of  consolidation.  A  similar  impres- 
sion of  unhasting  quietness  of  mind  is  made  by  the  description 
of  Christians  as  living  '  a  life  of  self-control,  righteousness, 
and  piety  in  this  present  world,  awaiting  the  blessed  hope 
and  the  appearing  of  the  glory  of  the  great  God  and  of  our 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ '  (Tit.  ii.  12,  13). 

But  a  problem  inevitably  presented  itself.  As  the  days 
went  on,  devout  souls,  troubled  by  the  apparent  triumph 
of  evil,  must  have  been  perplexed  by  the  delay  in  the  fulfil- 
ment of  their  expectation.  No  doubt  the  delay  was  used 
by  vigorous  natures  as  an  incentive  to  watchfulness.  But 
the  question,  which  in  2  Pet.  iii.  4  is  put  into  the  mouth  of 
scoffers,  '  Where  is  the  promise  of  his  advent  ?  '  must  have 
found  an  echo  in  many  a  believing  heart.  And  the  answer 
given  by  the  writer  indicates  how  such  hearts  were  com- 
forted. He  never  falters  as  to  the  certainty  of  the  crisis, 
which  rests  on  the  evidence  of  apostles  (i.  16,  17,  iii.  2) 
and  has  long  since  been  predicted  by  the  prophets  (i.  19  ff.), 
yet  he  refrains  from  specific  chronological  forecasts.  The 
day  of  the  Lord  will  come  suddenly,  and  it  will  bring 
destruction  by  fire  upon  the  existing  universe,  even  as  of 
old  the  world  of  that  day  was  destroyed  by  the  deluge 
(iii.  6,  7).  Here  the  author  follows  a  tradition  of  the  two- 
fold destruction  of  the  world  current  in  Judaism.1  But 
the  explanation  of  the  delay  is  to  be  found  in  the  nature  of 
God.  Men  measure  His  processes  by  their  limited  ideas  of 
time.  '  With  the  Lord  a  thousand  years  are  as  one  day ' 
(Ps.  xc.  4,  used,  as  in  Jubilees  iv.  30,  by  2  Pet.  iii.  8). 
It  is  nothing  but  His  long-suffering,  His  desire  that  all 


1  Windisch  quotes  interesting  passages  from  the  Vita  Adae  ei  Evae,  49, 
and  Joseph.  Ant.  i  2,  3,  and  refers  to  Sibylline  Oracles,  iv.  172-182,  v.  1.55- 
161,  274  f.,  512-531.  Perhaps  Isa.  lxvi.  15  ff.  should  be  added.  The 
notion  of  a  world-conflagration  is  widely  diffused,  being  found  not  only 
in  Jewish  sources,  but  in  Persian  eschatology,  and  in  the  Stoic  doctrine 
of  iK-rrvpuxris.  Many  scholars  trace  its  origin  to  Babylon.  See  excursus 
on  2  Pet.  iii.  10  in  Windisch,  jp.  cit,  p.  100. 


248  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [it. 

should  repent  before  it  is  too  late,  which  prompts  Him  to 
suspend  the  final  crisis. 


(h)  Influence  of  Heretical  Movements 

It  has  been  suggested  in  the  course  of  the  previous 
discussion  that  various  phenomena  in  the  theology  of  the 
developing  Church  were  due  to  reaction  against  the  influ- 
ence of  heretical  teachers.  Reference  was  made  to  the 
emphasis  on  morality  and  the  claims  of  a  definite  ethical 
standard  as  a  protest  against  tendencies  to  moral  laxity 
involved  in  their  doctrines.  These  doctrines  themselves 
must  have  helped  to  crystallise  the  idea  of  a  body  of  sound 
teaching,  representing  the  authoritative  Christian  tradition 
handed  down  by  the  followers  of  Jesus  and  incorporated 
in  confessions  of  faith  which  were  required  of  candidates 
for  admission  to  the  Church.  Piety,  we  saw,  consisted  in 
adherence  to  the  well-attested  apostolic  deposit  of  truth, 
and  the  living  of  a  life  of  worthy  activity  in  accordance 
with  the  Gospel.  Further,  in  our  investigation  of  the 
current  conception  of  God,  it  seemed  possible  to  explain 
certain  aspects  of  that  conception  as  at  leasl  thrown  into 
prominence  by  way  of  antithesis  to  positions  which  were 
being  adopted  by  disloyal  members  of  the  Christian  com- 
munity. Perhaps  we  may  add  that  the  departure  from 
some  of  Paul's  bolder  and  more  original  religious  stand- 
points and  the  acceptance  of  a  more  commonplace  out- 
look may  have  had  a  real  connection  with  dangerous 
exaggerations  of  such  ideas  as  spiritual  freedom  and  the 
boundless  generosity  of  the  Divine  grace.  And  if,  as  there 
is  reason  for  supposing,  Gnostic  influences  are  to  be  in- 
cluded among  the  penis  of  the  Church  of  our  period,  it 
oannol  l>e  accidental  that  so  large  a  place  is  assigned  to  the 

value  of  B   true  knowledge  of  Christ   and   the  revelation  of 
God  which  He  has  made. 

When    we   come,    however,    to   examine   the   material 
rated    by    our    Epistles    for   estimating    the    pn 
features  of  tic   .    heretical   movements,   we   pass  into  a 


in.]    THEOLOGY  OF  THE  DEVELOPING  CHURCH   249 

region  of  obscure  hints  and  shadowy  outlines.  The  chief 
reason  is  that  the  authors  are  concerned  not  with  describing 
but  with  denouncing  the  false  teachers.  Their  vague 
allusions  would  be  quite  clear  to  their  readers.  The 
terminology  which  is  so  opaque  to  us  shone  for  them 
against  a  background  which  we  cannot  fully  reconstruct. 
Still,  a  provisional  attempt  may  be  of  value,  and  in  making 
it  let  us  start  with  the  data  whose  interpretation  cannot  be 
doubted. 

First  of  all,  it  may  be  observed  that  the  more  important 
of  the  perils  confronted  appear  throughout  our  literature. 
It  is  far  more  likely  that  this  bears  witness  to  a  wide- 
spread group  of  tendencies  than  that  it  merely  represents 
literary  dependence.  Indeed  we  find  traces  of  a  similar 
movement  in  Paul's  letter  to  the  Church  at  Colossae.  And 
we  should  probably  be  justified  in  supposing  that  the  entire 
area  of  Hellenistic  Christianity  was  exposed  to  its  inroads. 

The  most  prominent  phase  of  this  aberration  from  the 
Gospel  may  be  called  Libertinism.  Its  adherents  are 
'  impious  persons  who  distort  the  grace  of  our  God  into 
immorality.'  They  are  people  '  seared  in  conscience,* 
who  '  fall  in  with  the  polluting  appetites  of  the  flesh,'  who 
'  profess  to  know  God,  but  by  their  deeds  deny  him.'  1 
Here  is  a  distortion  of  the  meaning  of  salvation.  Paul  had 
taught  that  through  the  boundless  grace  of  God  men  were 
raised  above  all  the  hampering  restrictions  of  a  religion 
of  mere  routine  and  endowed  with  a  spiritual  freedom 
responsible  to  God  alone.  But  the  apostle  himself  had  to 
warn  against  a  degeneration  of  that  splendid  liberty  into 
licence.  His  warnings  were  being  disregarded  with  fatal 
results.  These  false  teachers  promised  freedom  to  their 
disciples,  while  they  themselves  were  the  slaves  of  corrup- 
tion (2  Pet.  ii.  19).  Now  Irenaeus,  in  describing  those  who 
claimed  to  have  perfect  knowledge,  and  were  therefore 
called  Gnostics  (yuwa-riKOi),  tells  how  they,  as  '  spiritual ' 
(7rv€vpaTiKoi)  men,  '  affirm  that  good  conduct  is  necessary 
for  us  (i.e.  Christians  belonging  to  the  Church,  whom  they 

1  Jude  4  ;    1  Tim.  iv.  2 ;    2  Pet.  ii.  10  (M.)  ;    Tit.  i.  16. 


250  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [ft. 

called  '  psychical,'  or  unspiritual)  :  otherwise  it  is  im- 
possible to  be  saved.  But  they  hold  the  doctrine  that  they 
themselves  will  be  saved  in  any  case,  not  because  of  their 
conduct,  but  because  they  are  by  nature  spiritual.  .  .  . 
And  so,  without  fear,  the  most  "  perfect "  among  them 
perform  all  the  forbidden  things,  regarding  which  Scripture 
declares  that  "those  who  do  such  things  shall  not  inherit 
the  Kingdom  of  God."  '  1  Surely  this  is  precisely  the 
standpoint  which  Jude  has  in  view  when  he  speaks  (ver.  19) 
of  '  the  people  who  draw  sharp  distinctions  (i.e.  Detween 
themselves  and  others),  unspiritual  (^i'xiKO0>  n°t  Pos" 
sessing  the  Spirit.'  Just  because  they  deliberately  indulge 
their  lusts,2  they  give  the  lie  to  the  title  of  '  spirit -possessed  ' 
which  they  arrogantly  claim,  and  earn  the  name  of  '  un- 
spiritual '  which,  in  contempt,  they  assign  to  others. 

The  Pastoral  Epistles  contain  hints  of  this  exclusive 
standpoint.  Thus  1  Timothy  speaks  of  '  the  God  who 
desires  all  men  to  be  saved,'  and  of  '  the  living  God,  the 
Saviour  of  all  men.'  3  The  emphasis  is  noteworthy. 
Moreover,  Timothy  is  warned  against  '  the  profane 
jargon  ...  of  what  is  falsely  called  knowledge  '  (vi.  20,  M.). 
Throughout  our  documents  vague  allusions  are  found  to 
the  contents  of  this  profane  jargon.  It  is  connected  with 
the  study  of  '  myths  and  interminable  genealogies.'  * 
No  more  apt  description  could  be  given  of  the  material 
used  in  Gnostio  speculation.  It  has  constructed  a  genuine 
mythology  of  cosmological  principles,  many  of  them 
literally  derived  from  earlier  mythological  systems.5  It 
might  be  rash  to  explain  the  genealogies  as  referring  to  the 
Gnostic  doctrine  of  emanations.  But  apart  from  that, 
there  is  evidence  of  their  eagerness  in  tracing  the  descent 
of  those  half-personified  principles  which  are  central  in 
their  scheme  of  the  universe. 

Confusion  has  been  brought  into  the  discussion  of  this 

1  Contra  Omn.  Hucr.  i.  vi.  2,  3  (ed.  Stieren). 

'  'With  their  Immoral  practice  a  definite  theory  went  hand  in  hand' 
(Hollmann,  Die  Schrijten  d.  N.  T.,%  it.  p.  571).  '  ii.  4,  iv.  10. 

*  1  Tim.  i.  4  (M.) j    '-'  Tim.  iv.  4;    lit.  L  14,  iii.  9:    2  Pot.  i.  10. 

*  S<-e,  e.g.,  Bounaet,  liuuptprobleme  d.  Gnosis,  pp.  9-21,  S'l  ff.,  160-175, 
223.2S7,  320-322. 


in.]    THEOLOGY  OF  THE  DEVELOPING  CHURCH   251 

subject  by  the  attempt  to  explain  it  completely  from  a 
Jewish  point  of  vidw.1  Recent  research  has  shown  how 
Gnostic  movements  assimilated  elements  from  every  type 
of  Oriental  religion,  and  not  least  from  the  Jewish.2  Strange 
hybrid  sects  were  the  characteristic  phenomenon  of  this 
age  of  religious  syncretism.  Some  of  these  had  their 
roots  in  Judaism.3  Now  the  obverse  side  of  the  Libertinism 
mentioned  above  appears  from  our  Epistles  to  have  been  a 
rigid  asceticism.  This  of  course  accords  with  one  of  the 
fundamental  tenets  of  Gnosticism,  the  dualistic  theory 
that  matter  is  incurably  evil.  On  that  assumption  the 
body  and  its  passions  may  be  ignored  as  matters  of  indiffer- 
ence :  hence  the  indulgence  of  fleshly  lusts  as  lying  wholly 
apart  from  the  realm  of  spirit.  Or  on  the  other  hand,  all 
that  is  material  may  be  subjected  to  the  severest  discipline. 
Thus  the  seared  in  conscience  of  1  Tim.  iv.  2  are  also  men 
'  who  prohibit  marriage  and  insist  on  abstinence  from  foods 
which  God  created  for  believing  men '  (iv.  3,  M.).  '  For 
the  pure  all  things  are  pure,  but  nothing  is  pure  for  the 
polluted  and  unbelieving'  (Tit.  i.  15).  It  is  plain  that  a 
theory  of  asceticism  could  be  powerfully  buttressed  by 
the  Jewish  Law.  And  our  documents  supply  evidence 
that  the  false  teachers  aimed  at  interpreting  the  Law,  that  it 
entered  into  the  controversies  which  they  had  stirred  up.4 
Furthermore,  we  hear  of  '  insubordinate  creatures  who 
impose  on  people  with  their  empty  arguments,  particularly 
those  who  have  come  over  from  Judaism  '  (Tit.  i.  10,  M.). 
So  that  there  is  reason  for  regarding  the  heretical  movement 
assailed  in  these  Epistles  as  being  a  widely  diffused  phase 
of  incipient  Jewish -Christian  Gnosticism,  revealing,  on  its 
ascetic  side,  traces  of  kinship  with  the  similar  movement 
attacked  by  Paul  in  his  letter  to  the  Colossians.5 

1  So,  e.g.,  Hort,  Judaistic  Christianity,  pp.  132-146. 

2  See,  e.g.,  Bousset,  op.  cit.,  pp.  194-202,  324-323. 

3  See  Cumont,  Les  Religions  Orientates,2  pp.  xx,  94,  182,  367  (n.  69). 
*  1  Tim.  i.  7  ;    Tit.  iii.  9. 

'  The  curious  medley  of  elements  in  these  speculations  is  brought  out 
by  the  fact  that,  while  in  the  Colossian  heresy  angel-worship  is  prominent 
(Col.  ii.  18),  one  of  the  features  of  this  later  phase  is  a  contempt  for  angelic 
powers  (Jude  8-10;    2  Pet.  ii.  10-12) 


252  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [PT. 

(i)  Hellenistic  Colouring 

Attention  has  been  called  at  isolated  points  to  the  impact 
of  Hellenistic  thought  and  feeling  on  the  theology  of  the 
developing  Church.  It  lies  beyond  our  scope  to  deal 
with  the  large  and  complex  problem  of  the  range  and 
ultimate  issues  of  such  impact.  To  attempt  any  estimate 
we  should  require  to  cover  a  wide  area  of  early  Christian 
literature.  But  the  material  which  directly  concerns 
us  brings  into  view  the  atmosphere  in  which  nascent 
Christianity  was  obliged  to  construct  its  religious  thought. 
That  it  does  so  by  unconscious  hints  makes  it  all  the  more 
valuable  for  our  purpose. 

A  peculiarity  of  the  vocabulary  of  our  Epistles  is  the 
occurrence  of  various  typically  Hellenistic  terms  which 
either  do  not  appear  at  all,  or  with  extreme  rarity,  in 
the  rest  of  the  New  Testament.  The  regular  word  used  in 
the  Pastorals  for  the  '  appearing  '  of  the  exalted  Christ  in 
glory  (e-tc/x  reia)  is  only  found  once  elsewhere  in  New 
Testament  literature.  But  it  is  constantly  applied  to 
actual  '  manifestations  '  of  God  in  human  history  by  2  and 
3  Maccabees,  both  of  them  in  all  likelihood  products  of 
Alexandrian  Judaism.  Its  real  background  is  disclosed 
by  various  Greek  inscriptions  in  which  it  is  the  technical 
term  for  the  '  appearing  '  of  a  god.1  It  came  to  be  applied 
to  deified  rulers  in  the  Grseco -Roman  world,  and  thus  we 
have  as  an  extraordinary  parallel  to  the  words  of  Tit.  ii.  13: 
'  awaiting  the  blessed  hope  and  the  appearing  (tTri^avfiai) 
of  the  great  God  and  of  our  Saviour  (irunrjpos)  Christ 
'an  inscription  of  Ephesus  ■  which  celebrates  Julius 
Caesar  while  still  alive  as  '  the  god  .  .  .  who  has  appeared 
(cVk/xu  7y),  the  universal  saviour  (rrtoTijpa)  of  the  life  of 
men.'  The  combination  with  '  Saviour '  is  noteworthy, 
and  reminds  us  of  the  significant  fact  that  this  word,  so 
prominent  in  Hellenistic  religions  usage,  occurs  no  less 
than  sixteen  times  within  Die  short  compass  of  our  docu- 

1  Bee  Dittenberger,  Orientia  Gnu  Honta  8*lectoe,  i.  i)0,  ».  19. 

1  Dittenh  rger,  SyUoge*  347,  6. 


m.]    THEOLOGY  OF  THE  DEVELOPING  CHURCH   253 

ments,  while  Paul  has  only  two  instances  of  it.  In  this 
connection  we  may  mention  another  typical  term  of  the 
Hellenistic  milieu,  which  in  Tit.  iii.  4  is  associated  with  the 
1  appearing  '  of  the  Saviour,  namely,  the  Divine  '  kindness  ' 

The  opening  paragraph  of  2  Peter  reflects  the  Hellenistic 
atmosphere  of  the  author's  thoughts  in  every  sentence. 
In  setting  forth  the  ethical  requirements  of  the  Christian's 
religious  life,  he  heaps  up  characteristic  qualities  of  the 
highest  contemporary  ideal,  '  virtue  '  (apeTrj),  '  knowledge  ' 

(yrwo-ts),      'self-control'      («yK/><rreia),      'piety'      (€TJ<re/?€ia). 

It  has  already  been  pointed  out  that  piety  may  almost  be 
called  the  watchword  of  the  Pastoral  Epistles. 

No  less  remarkable  is  the  Hellenistic  strain  in  the  Epistle 
of  James.  This  appears  not  merely  in  arresting  expressions 
like  'the  wheel  of  existence'  (iii.  6),  which  is  common 
to  our  author  with  late  Greek  philosophical  commentators 
such  as  Simplicius  and  Proclus,  and  the  metaphors  used 
in  iii.  3,  4,  but  in  a  large  number  of  striking  parallels  to 
Philo  and  the  Alexandrian  Wisdom  of  Solomon,  in  cases 
where  these  are  indebted  to  the  Hellenistic  culture  of  their 
time.2  And  here  it  may  be  observed  that  Alexandrian 
Judaism  has  evidently  been  an  important  medium  of  Greek 
influence  for  our  group  of  documents.3 

Even  more  suggestive  than  the  use  of  special  Hellenistic 
terms  is  the  appearance  of  typical  ideas.  Thus  in  2  Pet. 
i.  4  the  bestowal  of  the  priceless  promises  of  God  has  for 
its  aim  the  participation  of  those  who  receive  them  in  the 
Divine  nature  (0«ias  KowmvoX  <£i'o-«a>s)  and  their  escape 
from  that  destruction  which  is  produced  in  the  world  by 
lust.  The  conception  of  sharing  the  Divine  nature  is  not 
found  elsewhere  in  the  New  Testament,  although,  of  course, 
there  are  approximations  to  it  in  Paul.  But  Paul  never 
has  the  notion  of  a  metaphysical  deification,   which  is 

1  This  word  occurs  so  often  in  the  Greek  inscriptions  of  the  East  that 
in  the  index  to  his  selection  from  these  Dittenberger  considers  it  needless 
to  give  the  references. 

2  For  details,  see  an  article  by  the  present  writer  on  *  The  Hellenistic 
Atmosphere  of  the  Epistle  of  James,'  in  Expositor.  1912,  pp.  37-52. 

*  See  the  examples  in  the  succeeding  paragraphs. 


254  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  [pt. 

characteristically  Hellenistic.  It  means  primarily  that 
the  goal  of  the  religious  life  is  the  attainment  of  an  incor- 
ruptible essence,  as  is  plain  from  the  second  clause  of  our 
passage.  The  idea  was  fraught  with  momentous  conse- 
quences for  the  development  of  early  Christian  theology, 
for  it  carried  with  it  the  tendency  to  shift  the  emphasis  from 
the  ethical  to  the  metaphysical.  The  subsequent  history 
of  Christian  doctrine  bears  eloquent  testimony  to  the 
perilous  issues  involved .  This  conception  occurs  repeatedly 
in  Philo,  e.g.  De  Demi.  104,  where  he  speaks  of  the  heavenly 
bodies  as  '  possessing  a  share  in  the  divine  and  blessed  and 
beatific  nature.'  1 

The  negative  clause  of  2  Pet.  i.  4  is  equally  significant. 
Plato,  in  a  famous  passage  of  the  Theoetetus  (176  A,  B), 
which  shows  how  evils  hover  around  the  earthly  nature  and 
the  material  sphere,  declares  through  the  lips  of  Socrates  that 
'  we  must  try  to  fly  from  hence  yonder  as  quickly  as  pos- 
sible, for  flight  means  likeness  to  God  (</n'y>?  8e  6/*oiWis  Octp) 
as  far  as  this  can  be,  and  likeness  means  becoming  righteous 
and  holy  along  with  understanding '  (^povrjo-ews).  Philo, 
who  quotes  these  words  verbatim  (De  Fuga  et  Invent.  63), 
is  engrossed  with  the  idea,  and  follows  his  master  in  such  a 
passage  as  De  Migrat.  Abrah.  9  :  '  Depart  then  from  the 
earthly  element  that  encompasses  you,  and  flee  with  all  your 
might  and  main  from  that  accursed  prison,  the  body,  and 
its  pleasures  and  desires  which  may  be  called  your  jailors.' 
He  speaks  also  of  souls  '  rooted  to  the  earthly  body  which, 
when  purified,  are  able  to  soar  on  high,  exchanging  earth 
for  heaven  and  destruction  (4>Bopav)  for  immortality.'  2 
Here  is  the  atmosphere  of  our  passage,  apart  from  its 
Christian  adaptation,  and  the  emphasis  which  our  author 
lays  on  knowledge  8  as  the  pathway  to  blessedness  finds 
a  direct  parallel  in  Philo's  doctrine  that  immortality  is 
attained  by  knowledge  of  the  Divine  essence.4 

1  Windisch  gives  this  and  other  instances  in  his  admirable  note  on 
2  Pet.  i.  4. 
1  Quit  Her.  Din.  Her.,  239. 
»  /•,.</.  ..  l\  :{,  B,  ii.  20,  m.  18. 
•  bee  Windisch,  Die  FriimmigkeU  Philoa,  pp.  4-8. 


in.]    THEOLOGY  OF  THE  DEVELOPING  CHURCH   255 

Finally,  the  ethical  ideal  of  high-minded  natures  in  con- 
temporary Hellenism  is  mirrored  in  the  description  given 
by  Tit.  ii.  12  of  the  aim  which  God's  redeeming  love  sets 
before  men, '  to  renounce  impiety  and  worldly  lusts  and  to 
live  in  self-control  (o-co^povo)?),  and  righteousness  (Sikgu'ws), 
and  piety  (evo-tfiioi)  in  this  present  world.'  Righteousness 
is  that  attitude  towards  one's  fellow- men  which  recognises 
their  just  claims.  Piety  describes  the  proper  relation  to 
supernatural  powers.  Self-control  is  the  most  characteristic 
of  Hellenic  virtues,  that  principle  of  order  and  balance, 
which  preserves  the  real  unity  of  a  life  by  maintaining 
its  elements  in  their  due  proportion*. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

(SELECTED  WORKS) 

I.  ENVIRONMENT  OF  EPISTLES 

(a)  Jewish 

Bousset.     Die  Religion  des  Judentums,  ed.  2,  1906. 

Charles.     The  Apocrypha  and  Pseudepigrapha  of  the  Old  Testament, 

1913. 
Hort.     Judaistic  Christianity,  1894. 

Mathews.     The  Messianic  Hope  in  the  New  Testament,  1905. 
Schechter.     Some  Aspects  of  Rabbinic  Theology,  1909. 
Schurer.     The  Jewish  People  in  the  Time  of  Jesus  Christ  (E.  T.), 

1890-96.     (4th  German  ed.,  1901-11.) 
Volz.     Jiidische  Eschatologie,  1903. 

(6)  Hellenistic 

Angus.     The  Environment  of  Early  Christianity,  1914. 
Bonhoffer.     Epiktet  und  das  Neue  Testament,  1911. 
Brehier.     Les  I  dees  Philosophiques  et  Religieuses  de  Philon,  1908. 
Cumont.     Les  Religions  Orientates  dans  le  Paganisme  Romain,  ed.  2, 

1909. 
Dill.     Roman  Society  from  Nero  to  Marcus  Aurelius,  1904. 
Glover.     The  Conflict  of  Religions  in  the  Early  Roman  Empire,  1907. 
Harnack.    The  Mission  and  Expansion  of  Christianity  (E.  T.),  1908. 
Kennedy.     St.  Paul  and  the  Mystery -Religions,  1913. 
Norden.     Agnostos  Theos,  1913. 
Ramsay.     The  Church  in  the  Roman  Empire,  1893  ;    SL  Paul  the 

Traveller,  1895. 
Reitzenstein.     Vie  hellenistischen  Mysterienreligionen,  1910. 
Wendland.     Die  hellenistisch-romische  Kultur,  ed.  2-3,  1912. 

II.  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES  AS  A  WHOLE 

Feine.     Theohgie  des  Neuen  Testaments,  1910. 
Holtzmann.     Neulestamentliche  Theologie,  ed.  2,  1911. 
M'Giffbet.     Hirtory  of  Christianity  in  tli<j  Apostolic  Age,  1897. 
Stevens.     The  Theology  of  the  New  Testament,  1S99. 
W'inf.l.     BibHsche Theologie des Neuen  Testaments,  1911. 

256 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  257 

Weiss,  J.     Christus,  1909  ;  Das  Urchristentum,  1  Teil,  1914;  2  Teil, 

1917. 
Weizsacker.     The  Apostolic  Age  (E.  T.),  1894-95. 
Wernle.     The  Beginnings  of  Christianity  (E.  T.),  1903. 

III.  PAULIXISM 

(1)  Commentaries  of  special  value  for  Pauline  Theology 

Romans,  Denney  (Exp.  Greek  Test.),  1900;  Kuhl,  1913. 
1  Corinthians,  Ftndlay  (E.  G.  T.),  1900 ;  J.  Wejss  (9th  ed.  of  Meyer), 
1910.  2  Corinthians,  Denney  (Expos.  Bible),  1894;  Heinrici, 
1887.  Galatians,  Lightfoot  (ed.  9),  1887  ;  Findlay  (Expos.  B.), 
1889.  I  and  2  Thessalonians,  Moffatt  (E.  G.  T.),  1910;  von 
Dobschutz  (7th  ed.  of  Meyer),  1909.  Ephesians,  Armitage 
Robinson,  1903 ;  Haupt  (7th  ed.  of  Meyer),  1897.  Colossians, 
Lightfoot  (ed.  8),  1886  ;  Peake  (E.  G.  T.),  1903  ;  Haupt  (6th  ed. 
of  Meyer),  1897.  Philippians,  Lightfoot  (ed.  8),  1888;  Haupt 
(6th  ed.  of  Meyer),  1897. 

(2)  General  Studies 

Bacon.     The  Story  of  St.  Paul,  1904. 

Dfjssmann.     St.  Paul  (E.  T.),  1912. 

Findlay.    Art.  Paul  (H.  D.  B.). 

Moffatt.     Paul  and  Paulinism,  1910. 

Morgan,  W.     The  Religion  and  Theology  of  Paul,  1917. 

Pfleiderer.     Paulinism  (E.  T.),  1877. 

Sabatier.     The  Apostle  Paul  (E.  T.),  1891. 

Strachan,  R.  H.     The  Individuality  of  St.  Paul,  1917. 

Weinel.    St.  Paul  (E.  T.),  1906. 

Weiss,  J.     Das  Urchristentum,  1  Teil,  1914,  pp.  103-416. 

Wernle,  P.     Jesus  u.  Paulus,  1915. 

Wrede.    Paulus,  1904. 

(3)  Special  Subjects 

Denney.     The  Theology  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  (Expositor,  viM 

vols."  3,  4),  1901. 
Dibeuus.     Die  Geisterwelt  im  Glavben  des  Paulus,  1909. 
Dickson.     St.  PauVs  Use  of  the  terms  Flesh  and  Spirit,  1883. 
Feine.     Jesus  Christus  und  Paulus,  1902. 
Grafe.     Die  paulinische  Lehre  vom  Gesetz,  ed.  2,  1893. 
Gunkel.     Die  Wirkungen  des  Heiligen  Geistes,  ed.  2,  1899. 
Kaftan.     Jesus  und  Paulus,  1906. 

Kennedy.     St.  PauVs  Conceptions  of  the  Last  Things,  1904. 
Menegoz.     Le  Peche  et  la  Redemption  d'apres  St.  Paul,  1882. 
Olschewski.     Die  Wurzeln  der  paidinischen  Christologie,  1909. 
Robinson.     The  Christian  Doctrine  of  Man,  1911,  pp.  104-136. 


258  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES 

Sokolowski.     Geisl  und  Leben  bei  Paulus,  1903. 

Somerville.     Si.  Paul's  Conception  of  Christ,  1897. 

Titius.    Der  Paulinismus  unter  dem  Gesichtspunkt  der  Seligkeit,  1900. 

Warneck.     Paulus  im  Lichte  der  heutigen  Heidenmission,  1913. 


IV.  EARLY  CHRISTIAN  THOUGHT  INDEPENDENT  OF  PAUL 

(1)  First  Peter 

(a)  Commentaries  valuable  for  Theology :  Bigg,  1901 ;  Hort 
(incomplete),  1898 ;  Windisch  (in  Lietzmann's  Handbuch  zum  N.  T.), 
1911. 

(b)  Studies:  Chase,  Art.  First  Epistle  of  Peter  (H.  D.  B.) ; 
Moffatt,  Introduction  to  the  Literature  of  the  N.  T.,  1911,  pp.  319-344 ; 
B.  Weiss,  Der  petrinische  Lehrbegrijf,  1855. 

(2)  Hebrews 

(a)  Commentaries :  Davidson  (Bible  Handbooks),  1882 ;  Dods 
(E.  G.  T.),  1910  ;  A.  Nairne,  The  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  (C.  G.  T.), 
1917  ;  Peake  (Cent.  Bible),  n.d. ;  B.  Weiss  (6th  ed.  of  Meyer),  1897. 

(b)  Studies :  Bruce,  The  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  1899 ; 
H.  MacNeill,  The  Christology  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  1914  ; 
Menegoz,  La  Theologie  de  VEpitre  aux  Hebreux,  1894  ;  G.  Millioan, 
The  Theology  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  1899. 

V.  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  DEVELOPING  CHURCH 

(1)  Commentaries 

Pastoral  Epistles,  Bernard  (Camb.  Greek  Test.),  1899;  von 
Soden,  ed.  2  (Handcommentar),  1893.  James,  Knowung,  1903  ; 
Mayor,  ed.  3,  1910 ;  Windisch  (in  Lietzmann),  1911.  Jude  and 
2  Peter,  Bigg,  1901 ;  Mayor,  1907  ;  Windisch,  1911. 

(2)  Studies 
W.  Bauer,  Die  katholischen  Briefe,  1910  ;  Chase,  Artt.  Epistle  of 
Jude  and  Second  Epistle  of  Peter  (H.  D.  B.) ;  Grafe,  Die  Stella,,*! 
und  Bcdeutung  des  J  acobusbriefes,  1904  ;  Hoennicke,  Das  Judru- 
chrisfrntum,  1908  ;  Titius,  Die  vulgare  Anschauung  von  der  Seligkri' 
im  Urchristentum,  1900;  von  Dobschutz,  Die  urchristlichen 
Gemeinden,  1902,  pp.  176-205. 


INDEX 


I. -SUBJECTS 


Adam,  21,  39,  40,  159. 
Ages,  Two,  18,  217. 
Angels,  45,  197,  202  ff. 
Apocalypses,  17-20,  80, 103, 134. 
Atonement,    128-131,    189,   196    f., 
211  ff.     See  Death  of  Christ. 

Church,  as  body  of  Christ,  147-150  ; 
officials  in,  148  ;  organisation  of, 
148,  234  ;  as  uniting  Jews  and  Gen- 
tiles, 150;  as  guardian  of  sound 
doctrine,  235,  248. 

Clement,  First  Epistle  of,  2,  61,  162, 
241. 

Colossae,  theosophical  movement  at, 
153-156,  249. 

Confessions  of  faith,  236,  238. 

Corinth,  problems  at,  102  f.,  145. 

Covenant,  central  in  Hebrews,  11, 
201  ;  Jesus'  use  of,  117,  198  ; 
meaning  of  old,  195  ;  new  and  old, 
195 ;  inauguration  of  old,  196 ;  in 
Jeremiah,  197  f.,  210;  Paul's  atti- 
tude to,  199  ;  in  sense  of  testament, 
199  n.,  200 ;  mediators  of,  201,  203  ; 
religion  of,  as  access  to  God,  207 ; 
sacrifices  of,  211  f.  ;  consummation 
of,  216  f. 

Death  of  Christ,  central  for  Paul, 
65  ;  scandal  of,  68  f. ,  126  ;  relation 
of,  to  resurrection,  70  f.,  125  ;  early 
explanations  of,  72  f.,  115  ff.,  127  ; 
constructions  of,  in  Paul,  128-131 ; 
many-sidedness  of  Paul's  view  of, 


131  ff.  ;  in  First  Peter,  176-179. 

See  Atonement. 
Deification,  253. 
Diaspora,  7  f.,  14,  22,  26,  241. 
Diatribe,  23. 
Didache,  233  f.,  244. 
Doctrine,  sound,  235,  237,  248. 

Enoch,  20,  80,  113,  180. 
Ezra,  Fourth,  21,  39  f.,  43,  80. 

Faith,  in  O.  T.,  93;  in  Paul,  93  f., 
123 ;  in  First  Peter,  167  ff.  ;  in 
Hebrews,  190,  218-221;  in  post- 
Pauline  Epp.,  229  ;  in  sub-apostolic 
period,  229  ff. 

Fathers,  Apostolic,  atmosphere  of, 
12,  222  f.,  244. 

Freedom,  Christian,  44,  106,  111,  128, 
138,  142,  144,  249. 

Glory,  14,  79,  125,  139  ff.,  246  n. 

Glossolalia,  112  f. 

Gnosticism,  225,  239,  249  ff. 

God,  re-discovery  of,  by  Paul,  52,  55  ; 
fatherhood  of,  in  Paul,  91  ff.,  105 
ff.  ;  in  Jewish  propaganda,  238 ; 
Gnostic  views  of,  239  ;  fatherhood 
of,  in  post-Pauline  Epp.,  240. 

God -fearers,  64  f. 

Hades,  180. 

Hebrews,  homilies  in,  182  ;  com- 
munity addressed  in,  183  ;  author- 
ship of,  184;  perils  of  community, 
185  ff.  ■;  relation  of,  to  Paul,  188  ff.  ; 
26a 


2G0 


THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES 


relation  of,  to  Alexandrian  Judaism, 

190  ff.  ;  complete  efficacy  of  Christ's 

offering  in,  213  f. 
Hernias,  Shepherd  of,  2,  222,  211. 
Hope,  in  Paul,  79,  108,  139 ;  in  First 

Peter,  166,  172  ;  in  Hebrews,  221. 

Impolsk,  evil,  21,  39  f. 

Influence,  Hellenistic,  on  Paul,  22-27, 

37,  155  ff. ;  on  post-Pauline  Epp., 

252-255. 

Jeremiah,  58,  113,  197  f. 

Jesus  Christ,  impression  made  by 
character  of,  50,  54,  104  f.  ;  names 
of,  in  Paul,  53  n.,  76  ;  significance 
of  resurrection  of,  69-72  ;  as  Son  of 
God,  81  f.,  202  f.,  206;  as  Lord, 
82  ff.  ;  exaltation  of,  85,  204  ; 
importance  of,  as  historical,  97  ff.  ; 
alleged  difference  between  teaching 
of,  and  Paul's,  100  ff.  ;  instructions 
of,  normative  for  Paul,  102  f .  ; 
eschatology  of,  110;  sacrifice  of, 
130,  135 ;  on  the  Lost  Son,  138  ; 
cosmic  significance  of,  152-155, 157  ; 
incarnation  of,  158,  160;  and  other 
mediators,  192  ;  as  mediator,  201, 
239;  offering  of,  in  Hebrews,  211- 
214 ;  intercession  of,  in  Hebrews, 
215  f.  ;  as  forerunner,  216  f.  See 
Messiah. 

Judaism,  view  of  God  in,  19,  238  ; 
mediating  powers  in,  20  ;  con- 
fronted in  Hebrews,  186. 

Justification,  63,  135  ff.,  230  f. 

Kingdom  of  God,  place  of,  in  Paul, 
105  f,  110;  spirit  of,  107.  See 
Church. 

Knowledge,  16,  25,  232  f. 

Law,  perils  of,  30  ff.,  44;  burden  of, 
on  Paul,  31  f.  ;  problem  of,  for 
Paul,  31,  41  f.  ;  developing  attitude 
to,  of  i'uul,  4'J  4<; ;  u  preparatory 
discipline,  43  ;  criticism  of,  by 
Paul,  45  f.  :  In  Paganism,  46;  as 
religion  of  ooutract,  95 ;   curat  of, 


128  f.  ;  in  Hebrews,  188  f. ;  in  sub- 
apostolic  period,  224 ;  of  nature, 
241 ;  the  new,  242 ;  of  freedom, 
243. 

Letters,  contrasted  with  epistles,  4  f.  ; 
nature  of  Paul's,  100. 

Libertinism,  249. 

Life,  eternal,  in  Paul,  70  ff.,  86,  122, 
125,  130,  141  ;  in  post-Pauline 
Epp.,  245. 

Logos,  affinities  of,  with   Paul,  155- 

158  ;  traces  of,  in  Hebrews,  193  ff. 
See  Philo. 

Lord,  in  LXX,  23,  85;  as  title  of 
Jesus,  82-86  ;  Oriental  and  Hellen- 
istic uses  of,  83  ;  in  early  Church, 

83  f.  ;  in  O.  T.,  84  ff.  ;  in  Paul, 

84  ff.,  89,  159 ;  relation  of,  to  the 
Spirit,  111. 

Love,  in  Paul,  107,  120,  143  f. 

Maccabees,  Fourth,  37,  116,  128. 
Maran  atha,  84,  109. 
Matter,  24,  33  f.,  251. 
Melchizedek,  193,  209  f.,  211  n. 
Messiah,  doctrine  of,  in  Judaism,  18, 
80;    as    Heavenly    Man,    57,    80, 

159  f.  ;  place  of,  in  Paul,  64,  75  ff.  ; 
a  suffering,  72  f.  ;  in  early  Church, 
76,  171 ;  pre-existeuce  of,  80,  154, 
158,  194;  as  Son  of  God,  81  f. 
See  Jesus  Christ. 

Moses,  204  ff. 

Mystery-religion,  25,  132,  137,  156. 

Mysticism,  120-122. 

Nero,  164. 

Parodsia,  in  Paul,  66,  78, 140  ff.  ;  in 
First  Peter,  172;  in  later  Epp., 
246  f. 

Pattern  (heavenly),  contrasted  with 
copy  (earthly),  190  f.,  213. 

Paul,  Christian  experience  of,  7,  55  f., 
74,  86,  88,  182  ;  missionary  roca- 
tion  of,  7,  56  ff.,  59,  93;  as  belong- 
ing to  Diaspora,  14;  trainii 
14  ff .  ;  Rabbinic  methods  in,  15, 
17,  45;  O.  T.  in,  10  f.,  2.');  mono- 


INDEX 


261 


theism  of,  19,  86 ;  conscience  in, 
26,  38 ;  flesh  in,  33  f..  36 ;  soul  in, 
36 ;  spirit  in,  37,  88  ff.  ;  mind  in, 
37  f.  ;  relation  of,  to  Stephen, 
47  f.  ;  relation  of,  to  historical 
Jesus,  49,  58,  98  ff.,  158;  grace  in, 
51,  61,  74,  91  f.,  95,  133,  137 ;  con- 
version of,  51  ff.  ;  apostolic  con- 
sciousness of,  58-60  ;  meaning  of 
election  for,  58-62 ;  eschatology  of, 
64,  77  ff,  95,  108  f.,  140;  ethics 
of,  65  f.,  107,  142  ff.,  225;  mis- 
sionary preaching  of,  63-67  ;  influ- 
ence of  conversion  of,  on  thought, 
66,68,74,86,  91  f.,  97,  119,  143; 
and  the  original  apostles,  98 ;  and 
the  Gospel  of  Matthew,  99  ;  know- 
ledge of  Jesus'  life  in,  103  f.  ;  on 
transformation  of  Christians,  139  f. ; 
on  slavery,  146;  on  woman,  146; 
on  the  state,  147  ;  creative  energy 
of,  223. 

Pax  Romano,  147. 

Perfecting  (of  Christians),  189,  212. 

Persecutions,  163-165. 

Peter,  First,  author  of,  10 ;  composi- 
tion of,  161 ;  date  of,  165  ;  practical 
character  of,  166 ;  relation  of,  to 
Paul,  167  f.  ;  divergence  of,  from 
Paul,  169  f.  ;  use  of  O.  T.  in,  171 ; 
reminiscences  of  Synoptics  in,  173  ; 
affinities  of,  with  Hebrews,  173, 
174  n. ;  influence  of  prophets  on, 
174  f.  ;  descent  to  Hades  in,  180  f. 

Philo,  24,  26  n.,  38,  124  n.,  155  ff., 
190,  192-195,  202,  218  ff.,  240, 
253  f. 

Piety,  237,  255. 

Plato,  34,  38,  43,  190,  254. 

Powers,  evil,  20,  40,  46,  65,  78,  154. 

Priesthood,  Aaronic,  206  ff.  ;  of 
Christ,  209  ff. 


Psaims  of  Solomon,  80. 

Reconciliation,  130, 134  f. 
Redemption,    24,  25,   65,  106,   108, 

154,  189. 
Retribution,  134,  135. 
Righteousness,    21,    136,    230,    231. 

See  Justification. 

Sacraments,  133  n.t  150-152. 

Sacrifices,  130,  195   196,  214. 

Saviour,  239,  252,  253. 

Septuagint,  23,  88,  84,  237. 

Sermon  on  Mount,  11  n.,  173  n., 
242. 

Servant  of  Jehovah,  72,  116-118, 128. 

Sin,  and  flesh,  33  f.,  129  ;  origin  of, 
39 ;  relation  of,  to  death,  126. 

Sonship,  94  f.,  106  f.,  137,  188. 

Spirit,  Holy,  as  criterion  of  Christian 
life,  86  ;  in  O.  T.,  87,  113 ;  Paul's 
conception  of,  88-90;  relation  of, 
to  Christ,  88  f.,  Ill,  123 ;  in  Mes- 
sianic age,  88,  113  ;  transformation 
of  doctrine  of,  90  f. ;  promise  of,  in 
Acts,  112 ;  teaching  of  Jesus  on, 
114  n. ;  in  Christian  conduct,  142; 
receding  of  idea  of,  233  n. 

Stoicism,  23,  25  f.,  155,  227. 

Tarsus,  14,  25. 

Tradition,  authority  of,  224,  235, 
248. 

Union  with  Christ,  119-124, 132. 

Wisdom-literature,  21,  24,  26,  87, 

156,  158,  191,  195,  253 
Works,  good,  226,  227. 
World-soul,  24, 155. 


2C2 


THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES 


II.-BIBLICAL  REFERENCES 
(1)  Old  Testament 


Genesis — 

PAGR 

Psalms — 

?AOB 

i.  27,     .... 

39 

cxliii.  2,        .        . 

.      42 

iii.  5,     .         .         .         t 

159 

Proverbs — 

vi.  12  f., 

180 

viii.  22  f.,  29  f.,    . 

.     156 

xiv.  18  ff.,     . 

193 

Isaiah — 

xv.  6,    .         .        .        . 

218 

v.  23,    . 

.     135 

Exodus— 

viii.  14, 

.     168 

xii.  13,          ... 

177 

xi.  1  ff., 

.       76 

xix.  5  (LXX), 

231 

xi.  2,     . 

.       87,113 

xx.  22,. 

31 

xxviii.  11,     . 

.      15 

xxiii.  7, 

135 

xxviii.  16, 

.     168,  218 

xxiii.  19, 

31 

xxxi.  3, 

.      34 

xxiv.  4  ff.,    . 

196 

xxxii.  15, 

.     113 

xxiv.  7  f.,      . 

178 

xlii.  7,  . 

.    180 

Leviticus — 

xlii.  8  (LXX), 

.      85 

xviii.  5, 

32,42 

xiv.  23  (LXX J,      . 

.      85 

Numbers — 

xlix.  Sf.,       . 

.     117,  198 

xii.  7 

205 

Hi.  3,     . 

.    177 

Deuteronomy— 

liii.       . 

.     128,177 

xxi.  22, 

116 

liii.  6,  .         . 

.     117 

xxi.  23,         ... 

127 

liii.  7,   . 

.    178 

xxvii.  26,      . 

32 

liii.  10, 

.     116 

xxxiii.  2  (LXX),    .       45,  19 

7,203 

liii.  12  (LXX),      . 

.      70 

Judges— 

lxi.  If., 

.     180 

xiv.  6,  

87 

lxiii.  9, 

.      74 

1  Samuel — 

Jeremiah — 

x.  10 

87 

i.  6,       .        i 

.      58 

Job— 

xxxi.  33  f.,    . 

.    113,197 

iv.  17-19,      . 

36 

Ezekiel— 

xxv.  5  f.,      .         .         . 

36 

xi.  1,  5,  24,  . 

.      87 

Psalms— 

xviii.  4, 

.     126 

ii.  7  (LXX),  ...       8 

1.  202 

xxxvi.  26  f, 

.     113 

xl.  6ff., 

212 

Daniel — 

Ii.  11 

87 

ix.  24-27,      . 

.     175 

lvi.  4 

34 

xii.  9,   . 

.     175 

Ixxxix.  28  (LXX), 

ex.  1,     . 

ex.  3  (LXX), 

81 
83 

81 

Joel — 
ii.  28  f. , 

.      88,  113 

ex.  4,     .         .         . 

9,  210 

Amos— 

cxvi.  17  (LXX),     . 

84 

iii.  2,     . 

.      60 

cxix.  77,  140,         .        . 

41 

H&bakkuk  — 

exxx.  (LXX), 

.    231 

ii.  4,      .         .        . 

.        .    218 

INDEX 


263 


(2)  New  Testament 


Matthew — 

PAGE 

Romans — 

PAGE 

v.  11,    .        .        . 

.     164 

ii.  17  ff.,       .        »        .       31,138 

xxvi.  28, 

.     198 

iii.  10-18,      . 

.      15 

Mark— 

iii.  21  ff.,       . 

.     13S 

x.  1-12, 

.     103 

iii.  24  f., 

130,  132 

x.  45,    . 

.     117,  148 

iv.  5,     .        , 

.     135 

xii.  29  ff.,      . 

.    107 

iv.  25,   . 

70,  117 

xiv.  24, 

.    117 

v.  1,  5, 

.    137 

Luke— 

v.  2f.,  11, 

138,  139 

iv.  18  ff.,      . 

.    181 

v.  5,      . 

.      71 

x.  30-37,       . 

.     144 

v.  6,      . 

53,  131 

XT.  31,  . 

.     138 

v.8,      . 

.     131 

John — 

v.  10,    . 

.    131 

x.  10,    .        ,       , 

.    211 

v.  12,    . 

9,  126,  153 

Acts— 

v.  12,  17, 

.      39 

ii.  4,     .        .        . 

.     112 

v.  12-19, 

.     129 

ii.  23,    . 

72,  115,  171 

v.  19,    . 

.    130 

ii.  32  f„ 

.    113,  175 

v.  20,    . 

.      44 

ii.  36,    . 

.      82 

vi.  3  f., 

.    151 

ii.  46,    . 

.    112 

vi.  4,     . 

.     132 

iii.  13  f.,       . 

.      72 

vi.  5,     . 

.     122 

iii.  13,26,    . 

.      72 

vi.  6,     . 

130,  132 

iii.  17,  . 

.     115 

vi.7,     . 

.    129 

iii.  18,  . 

.       72,  115 

vi.  10,  . 

.     129 

iii.  19,    . 

.    115 

vi.  13,  . 

.    137 

iv.  12,   . 

.115 

vi.  23,  . 

.     126 

iv.  26,  . 

.    115 

vii.  7f, 

.      31 

iv.  27  f.,       .        . 

.       72,  115 

vii.  7-11, 

.      35 

iv.  31,  . 

.     112,  113 

vii.  13, 

.      43 

v.  30  f., 

.     115 

vii.  18, . 

.      34 

vi.  11  ff.,       . 

.      32 

vii.  19,  . 

.      35 

vii.  52, . 

.    115 

vii.  22  f., 

31,  35,  37 

vii.  53, 

45,  197,  203 

vii.  24,  . 

.      43 

ix.  10  ff.,      . 

.      98 

vii.  25,  . 

.      33 

ix.  14,  21,     . 

.      84 

viii.  3,  . 

53,  129,  132 

ix.27,  . 

.      98 

viii.  9,  . 

88,  89 

x.  46, 

.    112 

viii.  9  f., 

.     123 

xi.  25  f.,       . 

.      56 

viii.  10, 

.     130 

xxvi.  14, 

.      49 

viii.  11, 

72,88 

Romans — 

viii.  14  ff., 

.     138 

i.  1,       .        . 

56,  84 

viii.  15, 

.      90 

i.  3  ff.,  . 

.  68,  80,  81 

viii.  16, 

.      90 

i.  20,     . 

.      38 

viii.  23, 

.       90,  139 

i.  28,     . 

26,  38 

viii.  28,  37, 

.      96 

ii.  14  f., 

.      26 

viii.  32, 

.     117,  131 

ii.  15,    . 

.      38 

viii.  3.V39, 

.        .      79 

264 


THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES 


Romans— 

PAGE 

1  Corinthians — 

PAQB 

ix.  4  f., 

.       14 

xiv.  21, 

.      15 

ix.  5,    . 

.      76 

xiv.  34, 

.     146 

i.  4,      .        . 

.      47,  129 

xiv.  40, 

.     148 

x.  12,    . 

.      84 

xv.  3,    . 

.     116 

xii.  1,    . 

.     142,  168 

xv.  3ff., 

90.  102, 167 

xii.  4  f., 

148 

xv.  8  f., 

.      52 

xii.  14,. 

.     144 

xv.  21  f.,       . 

.      39 

xii.  18, 

.     147 

xv.  22,  . 

.     129,  153 

xiv.  21, 

.     145 

xv.  22  ff.,  50  (T., 

.      78 

ir.  3,    . 

.     104 

xv.  24, . 

.       40,  105 

xv.  15  f.,       . 

.        .        .      59 

xv.  45,  . 

36,  86,  129,  157 

1  Corinthians — 

xvi.  22, 

.       84,  109 

i.  2,      . 

.      84 

2  Corinthians— 

i.  7,       .       . 

.     140.  172 

i.  5,       . 

.      53 

i.  10,     .       . 

.     149 

i.  20,     . 

76 

i.  17,     . 

.     151 

i.  22,     . 

.       90,  125 

i.  23,     . 

7,  126 

ii.  14,    . 

56 

i.  30,     . 

.      26 

iii.  6,     . 

.       59,  199 

ii.  4,     . 

.      87 

iii.  17,  . 

89,  111,  157 

iii.  10,  . 

.      59 

iii.  18,  . 

.    140 

iii.  23,  . 

.    138 

iv.  6,     . 

51,  56,  223 

iv.  1,     . 

.      59 

iv.  7,     . 

.      59 

v.  7,      .        . 

130,  132,  178 

iv.  16,  . 

.       38,  140 

vi.  15,  . 

.     146 

v.  1,      .        .        , 

71, 141 

vi.  17,  . 

.    122 

v.  2,      .        . 

.141 

vii.  10-13,     . 

.     102 

v.  5,     .        .        , 

.     125 

vii.  21  f.,      . 

.     147 

v.  10,    . 

.      76 

viii.  6,  . 

153,  157,  202 

v.  14,    . 

.     131 

viii.  7,  . 

26,  38,  145 

v.  16,    . 

49 

ix.  1,     .        .        , 

53,  59 

v.  17,    .        .        . 

68,  89,  125 

ix.  13  f., 

.    103 

v.  19,   . 

.       92,  131 

ix.  16,  . 

.      58 

v.  20,    . 

.       59,  135 

ix.  20,    . 

.      14 

v.21,    .        .        . 

.     129 

ix.  21,  . 

.      24 

viii.  9,  . 

70,  105,  160 

x.  6-11, 

.       15 

x.  1,      . 

.    104 

x.  11,    . 

.       72,  217 

xi.  1,     . 

;      69 

x.  17,    . 

.     152 

xi.  3,     . 

.      40 

x.  20  i. , 

.      40 

xi.  23,  . 

.      60 

x.  23,    . 

.     145 

xi.  32  f., 

.      98 

xi.  7,     . 

.      39 

xii.  9,    . 

.    122 

xi.  11,  . 

.     105 

xiii.  3,  .         .        . 

.      60 

xi.  14,  .         . 

.      26 

xiii.  9,  .         .        . 

.      60 

xi.  23  9., 

.     102,  198 

Galatiaus— 

xi.  26,  . 

.     151 

i.  1  n" 

.      97 

xii.  3,    . 

.      85,  111 

i.  10,     . 

56,  84 

xii.  24  f.,      . 

.     149 

i.  14,      . 

11,31 

xii.  28,. 

.     148,  234 

i.  15  f., 

52,  66 

xiii. 

.       23,  107 

i.  16,      .        . 

69,  86 

INDEX 


265 


Galatians — 

PAGE 

Philippians— 

PAGE 

ii.  1,   . 

.    98 

ii.  7,  . 

.   70 

ii.  9,   . 

.   44 

ii.  7  f., 

.  100 

ii.  16,  . 

.  167 

ii.  8,   . 

.  127 

ii.  19,  . 

130,  152 

ii.  9,   . 

70,  81 

ii.  19  f., 

.  151 

ii.  9  f., 

.   85 

ii.  20,  . 

71,  117,  121 

122,  131 

ii.  12  f., 

.   26 

iii.  2,  . 

87,  123 

ii.  15,  . 

.   .   .   79 

iii.  7ff., 

.   15 

iii.  4-6, 

.   14 

iii.  10,  . 

32,  128 

iii.  7  f., 

.  120 

iii.  13,  . 

116,  127, 

129,  132 

iii.  8,  . 

.   85 

iii.  15,  . 

.  199 

iii.  10,  . 

.   .   .   70 

iii.  16  ff. , 

.   44 

iii.  12,  . 

.   52 

iii.  18  ff., 

45 

iii.  12  ff.,   . 

.   29,  140 

iii.  19,  . 

43,  45,  46, 

197,  203 

iv.  8,  . 

.   26 

iii.  23,  . 

.   58 

iv.  13,  . 

.  122 

iii.  23  ff., 

.  151 

Colossians — 

iii.  24,  . 

.   43 

i.  13,  . 

78,  105,  133 

iii.  26,  . 

.  106 

i.  14,  . 

.  108 

iii.  27,  . 

.  151 

i,  15,  . 

.   81 

iii.  28,  . 

57,  146 

i.  15-20, 

.  154 

iv.  3,  8  ff., 

46,  203 

i.16,  .   . 

.  157, 202 

iv.  4,  . 

.  101 

i.  17,  .   . 

.  155,  202 

iv.  4  ff., 

.  106 

i.  25  ff., 

.   59,  150 

iv.  6,  . 

90,  138 

ii.  14  f., 

46 

iv.  21  ff., 

.   15 

ii.  15,  . 

20,  40,  154 

v.3,   . 

.   83 

ii.  19,  . 

.  150 

v.  5, 

79,  139 

iii.  1,  8, 

.   71 

v.  14,  . 

.  107, 

144,  242 

iii.  3f., 

.  125,  142 

v.  22,  . 

142,  224 

iii.  4,  . 

.   79 

vi.  14,  . 

.  139 

Philemon — 

Ephesians — 

15,  16,  . 

.   .  146 

i.  6,   .   , 

124,  129 

1  Thessalonians — 

i.  7,   .   , 

.  132 

i.  6,   .    . 

.  105 

i.  10,  .   , 

.  158 

i.  9f.,  . 

.  110 

ii.  2,  . 

40,  78 

i.  10,  . 

.   77,  140 

iii.  3,  6, 

.  150 

iv.  15  ff.,   . 

.   78 

iii.  10,  . 

.  150 

v.  24,  . 

.   61 

iv.  3  ff. , 

.  149 

2  Thessalonians — 

iv.  20  f.,   . 

.  105 

i.  7,   .   . 

.  172 

v.  2,  25,   . 

117,  132 

1  Timothy— 

vi.  Ill, 

21,  105 

i.  2,   . 

.  240 

vi.  12,  . 

40,  78 

i.  4,   .    . 

.  250 

Philippians — 

i.  5  ff.,  . 

.  243 

i.  6,   . 

61,  137 

i.  7,   . 

.  251 

i.8,   . 

.  104 

ii.  4,  . 

.  232,  240,  250 

i.  21,  . 

.   55 

ii.  5  f.,  . 

232,  236,  238,  239 

i.  23,  . 

123,  246 

ii.  10  f., 

.  237 

ii.  6  ff., 

.  159 

iii.  If., 

.  234 

266 


THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  EPISTLES 


1  Timothy— 

PAGE 

Hebrews — 

FAOl 

iii.  15,  . 

.     224,  236,  238 

vi.  11  f.,        .        .        .        .221 

iii.  16,  . 

.     236 

vi.  18  f., 

.     192,  221 

iv.  3f., 

.      238,  239,  251 

vi.  20,  . 

.     210,  216 

iv.  6,     . 

.      229,  235,  237 

vii.  16, 

.     211 

iv.  8,     . 

.     237,  245 

vii.  18, 

.     213 

vi.  3,     . 

.      235.  237 

vii.  19, 

.     187 

vi.  12,  . 

.     236,  245 

viii.  2,  . 

191,  201 

vi.  15  f., 

.     238,239 

viii.  5,  . 

.     213 

2  Timothy— 

ix.  11,  . 

191,  214 

i.  2,       . 

.    240 

ix.  11  ff., 

.     200 

i.  10,     . 

.     233,  245 

ix.  13,  . 

.    213 

i.  13  f., 

.     235 

ix.  14,  . 

178,  214 

ii.  1  f., 

.     235,  240 

ix.  15  ff., 

.     199 

ii.  21,    . 

.     226 

ix.  18  if., 

.     U 

■8,  179.  212 

ii.  25,    . 

.     232 

ix.  22,  . 

.    212 

iii.  6,     . 

.     237 

ix.  24,  . 

.    201 

iii.  17,  . 

.     226 

x.  1,      . 

.    213 

iv.  4,     . 

.     256 

x.  5-9,  . 

.    213 

Titus— 

x.  16  f., 

.     198 

i.  16,     . 

.     226.  249 

x.  82 1, 

U 

3,  206,  219 

ii.  10,    . 

.     235,  239 

x.  38,    . 

.     218 

ii.  11,   . 

.     228,  240 

xi.  1,     . 

.    219 

ii.  12,   . 

.     237,  255 

xi.  3,     . 

.     191 

ii.  13,    . 

.     252 

xi.  23  ff., 

.    205 

ii.  14,    . 

226,  228,  281,  232 

xi.  27,   . 

.     208 

iii.  4  f., 

238,  2i9,  240,  253 

xi.  3y  1'., 

.    219 

iii.  5ff., 

.     230,  240 

xi.  40,  . 

175.  219,  220 

iii.  8,    . 

.     226 

xii.  2,   . 

1* 

$5,  204,  209,  219 

iii.  9,    . 

.     250,  251 

xii.  4-11, 

.     183,  185 

Hebrews — 

xii.  22  f., 

.     217 

i.  Iff.,  . 

.     202,204 

xii.  28, 

.     221 

i.  2,       . 

.     194,202,217 

xiii.  4  ff.,  9  f 

> 

.    183 

i.  3,       . 

.       81,  194 

xiii.  ID, 

.    186 

i.  14,     . 

.     203 

xiii.  22, 

.    182 

ii.  2,      . 

.       45,  197,  203 

xiii.  24, 

.    183 

ii.  3,      . 

.     1S2 

ii.  5-9,  . 

.     204 

James — 

ii.  9ff., 

.     204,  2(»6,  209 

i.  17  f.,         .        .      288,  239,  240 

iii.  16  ff., 

.     205 

i.  18,     . 

.     227,  233 

iv.  2,     . 

.     220 

i.  25,     . 

.    243 

iv.  14,   . 

.     186,204,206 

i.  27,     .        . 

227,  240 

v.  1  f.,  . 

.     185 

ii.  1,      . 

.    246 

v.  2,      . 

.      20(s 

ii.  12  1., 

.    243 

v.  4,      .         . 

.     208 

ii.  19,    . 

.    227 

v.  5  f.,  . 

.     209 

ii.  20,    . 

.    229 

v.  9,      . 

.      214,  216,  220 

iv.  11  f., 

.    243 

▼.  12,    . 

.     182 

v.  8,      . 

.     246 

▼i.  9,     . 

.    182 

v.  15,  20, 

.    231 

INDEX 


267 


1  Peter— 

PAGE 

i.  2,   . 

174 

176,  178 

i.  11,  . 

,    . 

.  175 

i.  18,  . 

. 

174,  176 

i.  20  f., 

, 

.  169 

ii.  3ff., 

.  171 

ii.  6ff., 

!  168 

173,  174 

ii.  9,  . 

, 

171,  174 

ii.  12,  . 

172, 173 

ii.  21  ff.,   .   1 

69,  173  f.  i;6  f. 

iii.  9,  . 

168,  174 

iii.  16,  . 

.  163 

hi.  18,  . 

,    . 

.  170 

iii.  19  f.,   . 

, 

171,  180 

iv.  1  f., 

,   , 

170,  176 

iv.3,  .    . 

. 

.  162 

iv.  12,  . 

,    . 

.  164 

iv.  14,  . 

, 

164,  174 

iv.  15,  . 

,    . 

.  163 

v.  8,   .    . 

, 

.  164 

v.  9,   . 

, 

164,  174 

v.  10,  . 

. 

172,  173 

v.  12,  .   . 

. 

161,  165 

1  Peter— 

PA.GE 

v.  13,  .   , 

•   .  162 

2  Peter— 

i.  1,   . 

.  230 

i.2f.,  . 

.  254 

i.3,   . 

.  237 

i.  4,   .   , 

.  245,  253,  254 

i.  10  f., 

.   227,  232,  244 

i.  16,  . 

.  246,  247,  250 

ii.  1,  . 

.  241 

ii.  20,  . 

.  233,  254 

iii.  4,  . 

.  109,  247 

iii.  6  1'., 

.  247 

1  John — 

iii.  4,  . 

.   .   .   35 

iv.  19,  . 

.  143 

v.  12,  . 

.   70 

Jude — 

3,   . 

.  224,  229 

4,   •    . 

.  228,  241 

Apocalypse — 

xxii.  20, 

•   .   .  109 

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